t 


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The  Gospel  and  its   Witnesses 

SOME  OF  THE 

CHIEF  FACTS  IN  THE  LIFE 
OF  OUR  LORD 

AND  THE 

AUTHORITY  OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  NARRATIVES 

CONSIDERED  IN  LECTURES 
CHIEFLY  PREACHED   AT   ST.   JAMES'S,  WESTMINSTER 


BY/HENEY  WAGE  B.D.,  D.D. 

. • 

PREBENDARY  OF  ST.  PAUL'S,  PREACHER  OF  LINCOLN'S  INN, 

PROFESSOR  OF    ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY    IN    KING'S   COLLEGE,  LONDON, 

CHAPLAIN  TO  THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  CANTERBURY. 


NEW     YORK 
E.    P.    BUTTON    AND    CO. 

1883 


LONDON : 

PRINTED  BY   WILLIAM   CLOWES  AND  SONS,   LIMITED, 
STAMFORD  STREET  AND  CHARING  CROSS. 


Enscribci)  to 
THE   REV.   JOHN    EDWARD    KEMPE,   M.A. 

PREBENDABY   OF   ST.    PAUL'S 

RECTOR  OF   ST.   JAMES'S,  WESTMINSTER 

CHAPLAIN    IN    ORDINARY    TO    THE    QUEEN 

BY     HIS     FORMER     CURATE 

IN   GRATEFUL   ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

OF     HIS     GUIDANCE     AND     SUPPORT 

DURING   TWENTY   YEARS 


PREFACE. 


THE  following  Lectures  were  for  the  most  part 
preached  at  St.  James's,  Piccadilly,  in  1881,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Hector,  the  Rev.  Prebendary  Kempe ; 
but  they  have  been  enlarged  and  supplemented  from 
Sermons  since  preached  at  Lincoln's  Inn,  and  before 
the  University  of  Oxford.  The  design  of  the  author 
was  to  exhibit  the  real  character  and  results  of 
modern  criticism  in  respect  to  the  authenticity  of 
the  Gospels,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  illustrate 
the  credibility  and  spiritual  significance  of  the  main 
facts  in  the  Evangelical  narratives.  Accordingly, 
after  showing  in  the  first  two  Lectures  that  the 
critical  enquiries  of  the  last  fifty  years  have  failed 
to  establish  any  objections  against  the  traditional 
authorship  of  the  four  Gospels,  he  has  considered 
the  witness  of  the  Evangelists  to  the  main  truths 
respecting  our  Lord  which  are  recited  in  the  Creed, 
and  in  that  summary  of  the  Gospel  which  St.  Peter 
proclaimed  to  Cornelius.  The  Lectures  thus  treat 
in  succession  of  our  Lord's  birth ;  of  the  name  of 


Vlll  PREFACE. 

JESUS  as  signifying  the  purpose  of  the  Gospel ;  of 
our  Lord's  Ministry  of  power  and  mercy;  of  His 
atoning  Death ;  of  His  Kesurrection  ;  of  His  Ascen- 
sion and  future  return  to  judgment ;  and  of  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Within  the  limits  determined  by 
the  nature  of  such  a  series  of  Lectures,  the  author 
has  endeavoured  to  show  how  the  various  con- 
siderations thus  reviewed  confirm  one  another,  and 
combine  to  support  the  faith  of  the  Church  in  the 
Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

May  1883. 


CONTENTS. 

LECTUKE  I. 

THE    CHRISTIAN   CREED   AND   ITS   EVIDENCE. 

"  The  word  which  God  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  preaching 
peace  by  Jesus  Christ :  (He  is  Lord  of  all  :)  that  word,  I  say,  ye 
know,  which  was  published  throughout  all  Judaea,  and  began  from 
Galilee,  after  the  baptism  which  John  preached  ;  how  God  anointed 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power  :  who  went 
about  doing  good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  of  the  devil ;  for 
God  was  with  Him.  And  we  are  witnesses  of  all  things  which  He  did 
both  in  the  land  of  the  Jews,  and  in  Jerusalem  ;  whom  they  slew  and 
hanged  on  a  tree :  Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day,  and  shewed  Him 
openly  ;  not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses  chosen  before  of 
God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with  Him  after  He  rose  from 
the  dead.  And  He  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the  people,  and  to 
testify  that  it  is  He  which  was  ordained  of  God  to  be  the  Judge  of 
quick  and  dead.  To  Him  give  all  the  prophets  witness,  that  through 
His  name  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins." 
— Acts  x.  36-43 p.  I 

LECTUKE  II. 

THE   RESULTS   OF   MODERN   CRITICISM. 

"  Then  returned  they  unto  Jerusalem  from  the  mount  called  Olivet, 
which  is  from  Jerusalem  a  Sabbath  day's  journey.  And  when  they 
were  come  in,  they  went  up  into  an  upper  room,  where  abode  both 
Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  Andrew,  Philip,  and  Thomas,  Bartho- 
lomew, and  Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Alphaeus,  and  Simon  Zelotes. 
and  Judas  the  brother  of  James.  These  all  continued  with  one  accord 
in  prayer  and  supplication,  with  the  women,  and  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  and  with  His  brethren." — Acts  i.  12-14  .  .  .  p.  23 


X  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  m. 

THE   BIRTH   OF   OUR  LORD. 

"  Now  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise  :  When  as  his 
mother  Mary  was  espoused  to  Joseph,  before  they  came  together,  she 
was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost." — Matthew  i.  18  .  p.  47 


LECTUEE  IV. 

THE   NAME   OF   JESUS. 

"  Thou  shalt  call  His  name  JESUS,  for  He  shall  save  His  people 
from  their  sins." — Matthew  i.  21  .          .          .          .          .          .  p.  68 


LECTUEE  V. 

THE   MIRACLES   OF   OUR   LORD. 

"  And  when  Jesus  was  entered  into  Capernaum,  there  came  unto 
Him  a  centurion,  beseeching  Him,  and  saying,  Lord,  my  servant  lieth 
at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tormented.  And  Jesus  saith 
unto  him,  1  will  come  and  heal  him.  The  centurion  answered  and 
said,  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come  under  my  roof: 
but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed.  For  I  am 
a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under  me  and  I  say  to  this 
man,  Go,  and  he  goeth ;  and  to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh  ;  and  to 
my  servant,  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it.  When  Jesus  heard  it,  He 
marvelled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I 
have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel." — Matthew  viii.  5-10. 

p.  89 


CONTENTS.  XI 

LECTURE  VI. 

THE   PASSION    AND   DEATH   OF   OUR   LORD. 

•'  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in 
His  blood,  to  declare  His  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that 
are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God  ;  to  declare,  I  say,  at  this 
time  His  righteousness  :  that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of 
him  which  believeth  in  Jesus." — Rom.  iii.  25,  26  .  .  .  p.  114 

LECTURE  VII. 

THE  WITNESS  TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION. 

"This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses. 
Therefore  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received 
of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  hath  shed  forth  this, 
which  ye  now  see  and  hear." — Acts  ii.  32,  33  .  .  .p.  147 


LECTURE  VIII. 
OUR  LORD'S  RETURN  TO  JUDGMENT. 

"  And  while  they  looked  stedfastly  towards  heaven  as  He  went  up, 
behold,  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel ;  which  also  said, 
Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  This  same 
Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 
manner  as  ye  have  seen  Him  go  into  heaven." — Acts  i.  10,  11  .p.  172 


LECTURE  IX. 

THE    GIFT    OF    THE    SPIRIT. 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  He  that  believeth  on  Me,  the  work* 
that  I  do  shall  he  do  also;  and  greater  works  than  those  shall  he  do; 
because  I  go  unto  My  Father." — John  xiv.  12  ,  .  .p.  193 


'John  sent  two  of  his  disciples  and  said  unto  Jesus,  "Art  thou  He 
that  should  come,  or  do  we  look  for  another  ?  " ' 

'  Jesus  answered  and  said  unto  them,  "  Go  and  shew  John  again 
those  things  which  ye  do  hear  and  see." ' — St.  Matthew  xi.  3,  4. 


THE  GOSPEL  AND  ITS  WITNESSES 


LECTUKE  I 


THE  CHRISTIAN  CREED  AND  ITS 
EVIDENCE 

"  The  word  which  God  sent  unto  the  children  of  Israel,  preaching 
peace  by  Jesus  Christ :  (He  is  Lord  of  all  :)  That  word,  I  say, 
ye  know,  which  was  published  throughout  all  Judaea,  and  began 
from  Galilee,  after  the  baptism  which  John  preached ;  How  God 
anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power: 
who  went  about  doing  good,  and  healing  all  that  were  oppressed  of 
the  devil ;  for  God  was  with  Him.  And  we  are  witnesses  of  .all  things 
which  He  did  both  in  the  land  of  the  Jews,  and  in  Jerusalem ;  whom 
they  slew  and  hanged  on  a  tree  :  Him  God  raised  up  the  third  day, 
and  shewed  Him  openly  ;  Not  to  all  the  people,  but  unto  witnesses 
chosen  before  of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with  Him  after 
He  rose  from  the  dead.  And  He  commanded  us  to  preach  unto  the 
people,  and  to  testify  that  it  is  He  which  was  ordained  of  God  to  be 
the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead.  To  Him  give  all  the  prophets  witness, 
that  through  His  name  whosoever  believeth  in  Him  shall  receive 
remission  of  sins." — Acts  x.  36-43. 

THIS  passage  possesses  a  special  interest,  as  the 
original  type  of  Apostolic  preaching  to  the  Gentiles 
—that  is,  to  the  world  at  large,  to  persons  like 
ourselves,  to  all  in  fact  who  do  not  approach  the 
Christian  revelation  from  the  peculiar  point  of  view 
occupied  by  the  Jews.  It  cannot  but  be  regarded 

B 


2  THE    CHKISTIAN    CREED 

as  embodying,  for  our  purposes,  the  sura  and  sub- 
stance of  the  Gospel,  and  as  indicating  the  central 
points  in  the  Christian  argument.     Let  us  observe, 
then,  that  it  is  a  brief  and  simple  summary  of  the 
life  of  our  Lord,  as  recorded  in  the  four  Gospels, 
supplemented  by   a   statement   of  what  He   com- 
manded His  Apostles  to  preach   after  His   resur- 
rection.   In  slight  but  vivid  details,  all  the  essential 
points  of  those  narratives  and  of  the  Saviours  last 
commands    are   sketched — His   ministry   of    grace 
and  power,  His  miracles  of  mercy  and  of  healing, 
His  crucifixion,  His  resurrection  and  His  open  mani- 
festation   to   chosen   witnesses,  His   declaration   to 
the  Apostles  that  it  is  He  who  was  ordained   of 
God  to  be  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead,  and  the 
assurance  that  whosoever  believed  in  Him  should 
receive  remission  of  sins.     In  these  few  momentous 
facts  lies,  according  to  St.  Peter,  the  whole  essence 
of  the  Gosj  el ;  and  that  essence  is  the  supernatural 
character  of  Jesus  Christ,  His  miraculous  powers, 
His  authority  to  forgive   sins,  His  commission  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.     In  strict  harmony 
with   this   cardinal   example   of  Apostolic    preach- 
ing,  the    Christian   Creed,   a   confession   of  which 
has  from  the  earliest   ages  been  the  condition  of 
baptism  and  of  admission  into  the  Church,  has  con- 
sisted of  a  summary  of  these  same  facts.     One  of  its 
earliest  forms,  that  of  the  primitive  Roman  Church, 


AND    ITS    EVIDENCE  6 

ran  as  follows :  *  I  believe  in  God  the  Father 
Almighty,  and  in  Jesus  Christ  His  only  Son  our 
Lord,  who  was  born  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  the 
Virgin  Mary,  who  was  crucified  under  Pontius  Pilate 
and  was  buried  ;  on  the  third  day  he  rose  again  from 
the  dead ;  He  ascended  into  heaven,  and  sitteth  at 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father,  from  whence  He 
shall  come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead;  and 
I  believe  in  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  the  holy  Church, 
the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
flesh.'* 

A  Christian,  accordingly,  is  a  man  who  believes 
in  these  facts,  past,  present,  and  future.  He  is 
not  merely  a  man  who  submits  himself  to  the 
moral  teaching  of  Christ;  though  that  of  course 
is  involved  in  the  belief  in  Him  as  the  Juclge 
of  quick  and  dead — a  belief  which  gives  to  that 
teaching  an  absolutely  supreme  authority.  But, 
to  be  a  Christian,  a  man  must  regard  our  Lord  as 
having  exerted  in  the  past  the  power  and  influence 
which  the  Gospels  record,  as  exercising  a  similar 
influence  in  the  present,  and  as  destined  to  exercise 
it  with  infinite  majesty  and  might  in  the  future. 
Under  this  belief,  the  Christian  surrenders  himself 


*  See  Gebhardt  and  Harnack, 
Apostolic  Fathers,  Fasc.  I.  part  2, 


Salmon    in    the    Contemporary 
Iteciew  for  August  1878. 


115,   and   an  article  by  Dr. 

B   2 


4  THE  CHRISTIAN    CREED 

to  Christ  for  life  an'l  death,  in  sure  and  certain  hope 
that,  through  Him,  he  is  reconciled  with  God,  that 
he  will  be  purged  by  his  Saviour's  supernatural  grace 
and  power  from  the  moral  evil  which  besets  him  to 
the  last,  and  that  hereafter  he  will  be  raised  in 
purity  of  soul  and  incorrnption  of  body  to  a  life  of 
full  communion  with  the  truth,  the  goodness,  and 
the  love  of  the  Divine  nature.  This  is  the  blessed 
creed  which  we  contemplate  in  the  series  of  the 
great  festivals  of  the  Christian  year,  and  which 
reaches  its  culmination  at  the  two  festivals  between 
which  we  stand — those  of  Easter  and  Whitsuntide. 
Now,  this  being  the  case,  it  appears  that  the  whole 
edifice  of  Christian  faith  rests  upon  the  foundation 
of  the  historic  truth  of  the  life  and  ministry  of  our 
Lord,  as  summarized  by  St.  Peter  in  this  passage, 
and  as  narrated  in  the  Gospels  ;  and  in  these  da}  s, 
when  we  are  daily  called  upon  to  give  to  ourselves, 
if  not  to  others,  a  reason  of  the  faith  that  is  in 
us,  it  seems  of  increasing  importance  we  should 
clearly  realize  that  this  is  the  main  question 
which  is  practically  at  issue.  Great  service  has 
been  done,  and  is  still  being  done,  by  those  who 
have  vindicated  the  harmony  of  the  great  doctrines 
of  Christian  theology  with  the  constitution  of  nature 
and  of  man,  and  who  have  brought  into  prominence 
the  immense  presumption  in  favour  of  our  faith 
afforded  by  the  course  of  history  and  by  the  benefi- 


AND   ITS   EVIDENCE  O 

cent  influence  of  Christianity  on  mankind.  Con- 
siderations of  such  a  nature  are  well  fitted  to  be  a 
stay  and  support  to  souls  in  many  moments  and  moods 
of  anxious  doubt,  during  \vhich  the  answer  to  other 
difficulties  is  for  a  while  obscure;  and  they  must 
always  form  an  essential  part  of  the  Christian 
argument.  A  creed  which  is  to  command  our  alle- 
giance must  be  in  harmony  with  the  existing  facts 
of  life,  must  explain  them,  control  them,  animate 
them.  But  still,  when  all  this  is  done  and  said,  we 
must  again  and  again  come  back  to  the  few  facts 
we  have  just  reviewed — to  the  simple  preaching  of 
St.  Peter  to  Cornelius ;  to  the  question  whether,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  anointed  by 
God  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power;  whether 
He  rose  from  the  grave,  and  ordered  His  Apostles 
to  proclaim  Him  as  Judge  of  quick  and  dead.  This, 
after  all,  is  our  one  message  as  Christian  ministers. 
We  not  only  urge  upon  you  certain  moral  or 
spiritual  truths,-  but  we  bring  a  message  to  you 
from  the  man  Christ  Jesu?,  who  declared  Himself 
also  to  be  God,  and  who  proved  Himself  to  possess 
the  authority  He  claimed,  not  only  by  His  mar- 
vellous teaching,  but  by  His  visible  supremacy  over 
all  the  powers  of  nature.  We  call  on  you  for  this 
reason,  as  has  been  said,  to  surrender  yourselves  to 
Him,  to  obey  Him,  to  trust  in  Him,  to  pray  to  Him — 
to  appeal  to  Him  for  daily  support,  guidance,  chas- 


6  THE    CHRISTIAN    CREED 

tisement,  purification — for  all  the  grace  which  your 
moral  and  spiritual  and  intellectual  and  bodily  nature 
needs,  and  to  commend  yourselves  confidently  in  death 
to  His  merciful  hands.  And  if  you  ask  what  are 
our  credentials  for  this  gracious,  but  wonderful  and 
supernatural  invitation,  we  have,  and  we  can  have, 
but  one — that  the  facts  recited  by  St.  Peter  in  the 
text,  and  the  narratives  in  the  Gospels,  are  faithful 
records  of  the  life  and  deeds  and  words  of  the 
Person  of  whom  we  speak. 

Accordingly,  it  is  natural  and  reasonable  that,  in 
the  course  of  the  present  century,  the  attention 
of  all  who  take  a  serious  interest  in  religious  truth 
should  have  more  and  more  been  concentrated  on 
the  question  of  the  authenticity  of  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  on  the  credibility  of  the  ac- 
count there  preserved  to  us  of  the  life  and  work  of 
our  Lord.  The  question  was  first  seriously  raised,  at 
least  in  its  present  import,  at  the  close  of  the  last 
century;  and  since  then  it  has  -passed  through 
various  forms,  until,  in  our  own  time,  it  has  cul- 
minated in  a  series  of  attempts  to  give  an  account  of 
our  Lord's  life  which  should  be  reconcilable  with 
common  experience  and  with  the  ordinary  course 
of  the  laws  of  nature.  The  Christian  must  be  justly 
indignant  with  the  spirit  by  which  some  of  those 
attempts  have  been  marked,  and  by  the  tone  of 
many  rationalistic  writers  on  particular  points ;  but 


AND    ITS   EVIDENCE  7 

it  would,  I  think,  be  unjust  not  to  admit  that  it  was 
not  only  natural,  but  just  and  proper,  that  questions 
of  this  nature  should  be  raised  and  fairly  considered, 
in  view  of  the  increased  knowledge  which  has  been 
gained  during  the  last  two  centuries  both  of  nature 
and  of  the  facts  of  human  history.  The  develop- 
ment of  natural  science  has  placed  miracles  in  a  new 
light ;  it  can  hardly,  I  think,  be  denied  that  it  has 
increased  the  wonder  of  them,  and  it  has  in  propor- 
tion enhanced  their  primd  facie  improbability.  At 
the  same  time  the  advance  of  criticism  in  other 
departments  of  history  and  literature  has  com- 
pelled us  to  reject  as  legendary  stories,  as  myths  or 
poetical  fancies,  many  narratives  respecting  obscure 
parts  of  history  which  were  formerly  accepted  with- 
out hesitation.  It  was  impossible  that  serious  men 
should  not  ask  themselves  whether  it  was  conceiv- 
able that  any  such  legendary  process  had  con- 
tributed to  produce  the  marvellous  and  superhuman 
stories  in  the  Gospels,  and  whether  the  evidence  on 
which  we  were  asked  to  believe  in  violations  of  all 
ordinary  experience  would  bear  the  strain.  It  was  a 
natural  consequence  of  human  infirmity  that  in 
some  cases  these  questions  should  be  raised  with 
undue  audacity,  and  with  an  imperfect  power  of 
appreciating  the  moral  conditions  of  the  problem. 
It,  as  must  needs  be  faid,  German  critics  have  been 
often  rash,  arbitrary,  deficient  in  spiritual  and  his- 


8  THE   CHRISTIAN   CREED 

torical  penetration — for  on  so  serious  a  subject  it  is 
necessary  to  speak  plainly — their  rashness  has  not 
less  often  been  a  perversion  of  a  very  noble  quality, 
perhaps  peculiarly  characteristic  of  their  nation 
—  of  that  intrepidity  which  marked  the  great 
hero  of  the  Reformation,  and  of  an  impetuous 
effort  to  grasp  the  truth,  whatever  the  apparent 
cost.  The  result  of  their  errors,  as  of  many  another 
temporary  aberration  in  the  course  of  the  history 
of  theology,  has  been,  on  the  whole,  to  bring  into 
clearer  light  the  old  truth,  and  to  render  more  un- 
assailable for  the  future  the  cardinal  facts  of  the 
Christian  revelation.  But  the  process  has  been  a 
perilous  one,  and  has  involved  for  the  time  a  shaking 
of  the  foundations  of  faith,  which  has,  of  late  years, 
been  severely  felt  among  ourselves.  By  the  bril- 
liant French  writer,  M.  Kenan,  and  by  the  author  of 
a  book  called  '  Supernatural  Religion  '  among  our- 
selves, the  doubts  in  question  have  of  late  years 
been  given  vivid  expression.  At  the  same  time  the 
main  points  at  issue  have  been  so  thoroughly  argued 
that  it  is  possible  to  point  to  some  definite  conclu- 
sions; and  an  attempt  may  not  be  inopportune  to 
i  present,  in  a  simple  and  direct  form,  the  grounds  on 
which  we  can  take  our  stand  in  proclaiming,  in  all 
its  wonder  and  all  its  simplicity,  the  old  message  of 
St.  Peter  respecting  the  life,  the  work,  and  the 
present  power  of  Christ. 


AND   ITS   EVIDENCE  9 

Now,  there  is  one  remark  to  be  made  at  the  outset 
which  seems  to  d»  serve  particular  consideration.  It 
is  that,  among  those  who  have  conducted  this  great 
controversy,  Christian  writers  alone  have  approached 
the  subject  from  an  impartial  point  of  view.  A 
different  impression  no  doubt  prevails,  and  it  is  a 
common  reproach  against  us  that  we  enter  on  the  dis- 
cussion with  a  special  interest  in  favour  of  the  old 
faith.  Of  course  we  do  ;  and  it  would  be  a  shame  to 
us  if  we  did  not.  We  have  the  same  interest  in  believ- 
ing in  the  truth  of  the  Christian  creed  that  all  men 
have  for  believing  in  the  truth  of  any  cause  with 
which  the  civilization  they  inherit  is  indissolubly 
bound  up,  for  which  those  whom  they  love  and 
admire  best  in  the  world  have  shed  their  blood,  and 
with  which  the  deepest  and  purest  and  most  elevating 
of  their  feelings  are  united.  It  would  be  a  bitter 
thing  no  doubt,  and  bitter  to  others  than  Christians 
—it  would  be  a  shock  to  human  nature,  and  would 
shake  our  faith  in  the  very  trustworthiness  of  our 
faculties — to  have  to  recognize  that  the  self-sacrifice 
of  Christian  martyrs  and  the  devoted  lives  of  Chris- 
tian saints,  inseparably  united  as  they  are,  in  a  man- 
ner presented  by  no  other  religion,  with  all  that  is 
noblest  and  most  progressive  in  history,  with  the 
highest  hopes  of  the  human  race  even  for  this  world 
— to  have  to  recognize,  I  say,  that  all  this  was  founded 
upon  a  series  of  illusions.  But  nevertheless,  none 


10  THE   CHRISTIAN   CREED 

have  the  right  to  say  of  us,  any  more  than  they  have 
a  right  to  presume  respecting  any  other  men,  that 
we  are  disqualified  by  our  prejudices  from  recog- 
nizing plain  facts.  It  is  facts  that  we  want,  and 
nothing  else.  Our  creed,  as  has  already  been  said, 
is  a  creed  of  facts ;  and  every  light  that  can  be 
thrown  on  the  evidence  for  them  is  welcome  to  us. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  are  justified  in  saying 
of  the  principal  writers  among  our  antagonists — 
for  they  say  it  of  themselves — that  they  are  so 
far  from  entering  on  the  consideration  of  the  sub- 
ject impartially,  that  they  actually  prejudge  the 
very  question  in  dispute.  They  say,  and  it  is  the 
cardinal  and  ever-recurring  principle  of  their  objec- 
tions, that  miracles  and  supernatural  facts  cannot 
have  happened  ;  and  that  this  consideration,  taken 
alone,  renders  it  necessary  to  treat  the  narratives 
of  the  Gospels  as  legendary.  As  illustrations  of 
this  attitude  of  mind,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  mention 
three  leading  writers :  Strauss,  the  notorious  author 
of  the  mythical  theory  of  the  Gospels ;  Baur,  the 
distinguished  leader  of  the  Tubingen  school;  and 
lastly  M.  Eenan.  Strauss,  in  his  final  work  on  this 
subject,  reiterated  that  the  main  difficulty  in  ac- 
cepting the  narratives  of  the  Gospels  as  historical 
is  that  they  assume  the  existence  of  a  personality 
in  our  Lord,  and  recognize  the  operation  of  powers 
in  the  course  of  His  life,  to  which  we  have  no 


AND    ITS   EVIDENCE 


1] 


parallel  in  any  other  history.*  Of  course  we  have 
not — that  is  the  very  Christian  contention  ;  but  to 
assume  that  because  no  such  personality  and  no 
such  deeds  are  recorded  in  any  other  history,  there- 
fore they  could  not  have  occurred  in  the  case  of  our 
Lord,  is  to  beg  the  whole  question  at  issue — it  is  to 
say  that  no  amount  of  evidence  to  the  narratives  of 
the  Gospels  would  be  of  any  value.  Or,  as  Strauss 
puts  it  in  another  form,  'that  which  cannot  happen 
did  not  happen;'f  and  accordingly  the  narratives 
of  the  Gospels  must  be  explained  away  by  some 
device  or  other. 

The  case  is  practically  the  same  with  Baur.  While 
sympathizing  with  Strauss,  he  objected  to  him  that 
he  had  not  sufficiently  investigated  the  authenticity 
and  date  of  the  Gospels.  Strauss  laid  the  stress  of 
the  argument  on  the  inherent  incredibility  of  the  his- 
tory ;  Baur,  on  the  other  hand,  endeavoured  to  show 
that  the  Gospels  were  of  very  late  origin,  and  conse- 
quently could  not  be  regarded  as  valid  testimony 
to  the  occurrence  of  the  facts.  But,  after  all,  the 
decisive  argument,  even  for  him,  is  that  the  contents 
of  the  Gospels  are  miraculous  and  impossible.  In 
his  own  words,  'The  cardinal  argument  for  the 


*  Das  Leben  Jesu  fur  das 
Deutsche  Voile  bearbeitet,  3rd  ed. 
1876,  p.  145. 

f  See   also   Das    Leben  Jesu 


/.•;•// /V/i  bearbeitet,  4th  ed.  §  16; 
Criterions  of  what  is  unhistorical 
in  the  Evangelical  narrative. 


12  THE    CHRISTIAN   CEEED 

later  origin  of  our  Gospels  remains  always  this  — 
that  each  of  them  for  itself,  and  still  more  all  of 
them  together,  relate  so  much  in  the  life  of  Jesus  in 
a  manner  in  which  in  reality  it  is  impossible  for  it 
to  have  happened.'*  In  other  words,  Baur,  a  man 
of  immense  learning  and  originality,  starts  on  this 
momentous  enquiry  with  the  prejudgment  that  the 
narratives  of  the  Gospel  are  impossible;  and  naturally 
he  is  at  no  loss  to  invent  theories — most  of  which, 
however,  Lave  since  been  surrendered  by  his  suc- 
cessors—as to  their  composition. 

Lastly,  as  to  M.  Renan,  it  is  only  necessary  to  quote 
ore  sentence  from  the  preface  to  the  thirteenth  edi- 
tion of  his  '  Life  of  Jesus,'  in  which  his  work  assumed 
its  final  form.t  'At  the  foundation,'  he  says,  'of 
every  discussion  of  similar  matters  lies  the  question  of 
the  supernatural.  If  miracles  and  the  inspiration  of 
certain  books  are  a  reality,  my  method  is  detestable. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  miracles  and  the  inspiration 
of  books  are  beliefs  destitute  of  reality,  my  method 
is  a  good  one.  But  the  question  of  the  supernatural 
is  decided  for  us  with  a  complete  certainty  by  this 
single  reason — that  there  is  no  room  for  believing  in 
a  thing  of  which  the  world  does  not  offer  any  ex- 
perimental trace.'  Accordingly,  he  too  is  obliged  to 
invent  a  theory  of  his  own  to  account  for  the  narra- 


*    Kritische    Untersuchungen 
tiber     die    Kanoni&chen    Evan- 


gelien,  1847 ;  p.  530. 

t  Page  ix.  :  15th  ed.  1876. 


AND   ITS   EVIDENCE  13 

lives  of  the  Gospels,  on  the  supposition  of  their  being 
legendary.  Neither  of  these  well-known  writers,  in 
other  words,  approaches  the  subject  with  an  open 
mind.  The  main  question — the  question  of  the 
trustworthiness  of  the  authors  of  the  Gospels — is 
settled  in  advance,  not  by  reference  to  testimony 
or  criticism,  but  by  an  a  priori  supposition:  they 
combine  in  saying,  with  Strauss :  These  things 
cannot  have  happened;  therefore  they  did  not 
happen. 

The  Christian  writer,  on  the  other  hand,  says :  '  I 
am  not  prepared  to  say  beforehand  what  may  or 
may  not  have  happened  ;  what  is  possible  and  what 
is  impossible.  I  want  simply  to  know  what  did 
happen  ;  and  I  am  prepared  to  accept  good  evidence 
on  the  subject,  however  surprising  the  events  to 
which  it  bears  testimony.'  In  view  of  these  facts, 
which  are  proclaimed  in  the  very  face  of  all  the 
chief  negative  arguments  on  this  subject,  are  we  not 
justified  in  saying  that  the  impartiality  is  on  our 
side,  the  prejudice  and  the  assumptions  on  the  other  ? 
Of  course,  if  we  could  be  sure  that  a  miracle  was 
inconceivable,  the  method  of  rationalistic  writers 
would,  as  M.  E/enan  says,  be  justified.  But  whilst 
it  can  be  said,  in  the  words  of  Professor  Huxley  in 
his  book  on  Hume,  that  *  no  event  is  too  extra- 
ordinary to  be  possible,  and  therefore  if  by  the  term 
miracle  we  mean  only  extremely  wonderful  events, 


14  THE    CHRISTIAN   CREED 

there  can  be  no  just  grounds  for  denying  the  pos- 
sibility of  their  occurrence,'  *  no  such  assumption 
will  be  accepted  by  thoughtful  men.  We  are  not 
accustomed  to  decide  these  matters  upon  abstract 
theories  of  possibilities  and  impossibilities.  We 
want  simply  to  know  what  is  the  evidence  on  the 
subject ;  and  that  has  been,  and  is  still,  the  attitude 
of  all  English  theologians  of  distinction. 

It  is,  in  short,  a  fact  of  the  utmost  importance 
for  a  broad  estimate  of  the  value  of  negative  criticism 
respecting  the  authenticity  of  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament,  that  such  criticism  has  throughout 
been  thus  avowedly  prompted  by  a  prejudice  against 
the  facts  in  dispute.  To  quote  a  legal  phrase,  the 
questions  put  by  critics  like  Strauss,  Baur,  or  Kenan 
have  been  essentially  leading  questions;  the  tone  of 
the  reply  has  been  anticipated,  and  the  witness  has 
been  unduly  pressed  to  say  what  was  expected.  Of 
this  there  is  a  striking  illustration  in  the  perpetual 
tendency  of  such  criticism  to  push  its  conclusions 
too  far  even  for  its  own  purposes,  and  consequently 
to  be  continually  driven  to  recantations.  It  may  be 
worth  while  to  refer  to  one  conspicuous  instance  of 
this  tendency  to  prove  too  much,  which  has  been 
afforded  of  late  by  a  book  to  which  reference  has 
been  already  made,  '  Supernatural  Keligion.'  That 

*  Page  131. 


AND    ITS    EVIDENCE  13 

work,  like  those  of  the  three  great  critics  already 
named,  starts  with  an  argument  to  show  that 
miracles  are  impossible,  and  then,  in  this  spirit, 
proceeds  to  examine  the  evidence  for  the  early 
existence  of  the  Gospels ;  and  an  immense  amount 
of  ingenuity  is  expended  in  explaining  away  every 
evidence  that  they  could  have  existed  in  their 
present  form  before  the  latter  part  of  the  second 
century.  Now,  one  important  part  in  this  argument 
relates  to  the  heretic  Marcion,  who  flourished 
about  the  year  140.  He  was  said  by  tradition  to 
have  formed  a  Gospel  to  suit  his  own  views,  by  taking 
our  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and  cutting  out  of  it  parts 
which  were  not  in  accordance  with  his  principles. 
If  so,  St.  Luke's  Gospel  must  have  existed,  and  must 
have  been  a  work  of  authority,  in  the  first  quarter  of 
the  second  century.  The  writer  of  '  Supernatural 
Religion'  accordingly  has  to  explain  this  tradition 
away ;  and  he  expends  more  than  fifty  pages  in 
the  effort.  But  in  his  '  complete  edition,'  published 
in  1879,  although  he  leaves  these  fifty  pages,  as  he 
says,  'nearly  in  their  former  shape,  in  order  that 
the  true  nature  of  the  problem  may  be  better 
understood/  he  is  nevertheless  obliged  to  confess 
that  a  work  recently  published  by  Dr.  Sanday  has 
proved  that  his  conclusions  on  this  point  were  mis- 
taken, that  his  previous  hypothesis  was  untenable, 
that  St.  Luke's  Gospel  was  substantially  in  the 


16  THE   CHRISTIAN   CREED 

hands  of  Marcion,  and  that  consequently  it  must 
have  been  composed  some  time  before  140  A.D.* 
If  some  credit  is  due  to  the  candour  which  makes 
this  admission,  it  is  difficult  to  know  what  is  to  be 
said  of  the  singular  procedure  of  leaving  nearly 
unaltered  a  mass  of  argument  all  directed  to  a 
conclusion  now  acknowledged  to  be  false ;  but  it 
will  be  felt  that  such  a  result  damages  fatally  the 
whole  process  of  which  it  is  an  example.  A  book 
is  written,  of  which  the  object,  from  one  end  to  the 
other,  is  to  prove  that  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  St.  Luke's  Gospel,  any  more  than  any  other 
Gospel,  existed  before  a  very  late  date,  and  the 
author  discovers  after  his  sixth  edition  that,  with 
respect  to  that  Gospel  at  all  events,  the  whole 
argument  is  fallacious.  He  had  undertaken  to 
prove  too  much,  and  in  proportion  to  the  success 
with  which  he  credits  himself  is  the  damage  in- 
flicted by  a  clear  proof  of  failure  in  a  cardinal 
point. 

In  this  connection  it  will  be  interesting  to  refer 
to  a  discovery  which  has  of  late  attracted  much 
attention  among  scholars.  Even  if  it  be  too  soon  to 
assume  that  the  results  it  has  hitherto  been  deemed 
to  involve  are  conclusively  established,  it  none 
the  less  affords  a  striking  example  of  the  rashness 
of  such  criticism  as  we  have  been  considering. 

*  Vol.  II.  P.  138. 


AND    ITS    EVIDENCE  17 

It  relates  to  a  work  of  the  nature  of  a  harmony 
of  the  Four  Gospels,  which  tradition  had  always 
ascribed  to  Tatian,  the  disciple  of  St.  Justin  Martyr. 
Now  as  Justin  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the 
second  century,  and  the  author  of  Supernatural 
Religion  contended  that  it  was  impracticable  to 
find  '  a  single  distinct  trace  of  any  of  the  Synoptic 
Gospels,  with  the  exception  of  the  third,  during  the 
first  century  and  a  half  after  the  death  of  Jesus  '  * — 
that  is  to  say,  before  the  year  180  A.D. — it  was  im- 
perative for  him  to  contend  that  our  Gospels  were 
not  used  by  St.  Justin.  But  if  Tatian,  one  of 
Justin's  disciples,  composed  a  kind  of  harmony  out 
of  our  four  Gospels,  and  out  of  those  alone,  it 
would  be  incredible  that  they  were  not  known  to 
his  master,  and  were  not  recognized  by  him  as 
authoritative.  Accordingly  this  author  labours  iu 
his  usual  style  to  explain  away  the  evidence  that 
Tatian 's  harmony — or  Diatessaron,  as  it  was  called 
— was  of  the  character  hitherto  generally  believed. 
He  urged  that  '  there  is  no  authority  for  saying 
that  Tatian's  Gospel  was  a  harmony  of  Four 
Gospels  at  all ;'  and  that  the  natural  explanation  of 
the  various  reports  is  to  be  found  '  in  the  conclusion 
that  Tatian  did  not  compose  any  harmony  at  all, 
but  simply  made  use  of  the  same  Gospel  as  his 
master  Justin  Martyr,  namely,  the  Gospel  according 

*  Vol.  II.  p.  246.     Completed  edition,  1879. 

C 


18  THE   CHRISTIAN   CREED 

to  the  Hebrews.'  In  short,  we  were  told,  it  was 
'  obvious  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  any  value  con- 
necting Tatian's  Gospel  with  those  in  our  Canon.'  * 
The  pleas  thus  advanced  were  met  by  Bishop 
Lightfoot,  on  the  basis  of  the  information  then 
available,  with  sufficient  conclusiveness ;  f  but  by 
the  recent  discovery  to  which  we  have  alluded,  if 
we  may  trust  what  has  hitherto  seemed  the  unani- 
mous consent  of  scholars,  at  home  and  abroad,  the 
author's  contention  has  been  still  more  completely 
overthrown.  Through  the  agency  of  the  Mechitarist 
Fathers  at  Venice  a  translation  was  published  of 
a  work  preserved  in  the  Armenian  language,  which 
has  been  generally  recognized,  by  critics  belong- 
ing to  all  schools  of  thought,  as  the  commentary 
which  a  Syrian  father  of  the  fourth  century — St. 
Ephiaem — was  believed  to  have  written  on  Tatian's 
Diatessaron.  By  this  commentary,  it  is  generally 
admitted  that  we  have  been  placed  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Diatessaron  of  Tatiari,  with  sufficient  ful- 
ness, at  all  events,  to  judge  of  its  general  relations 
to  our  Four  Gospels.  The  result  is  that  Tatian's 
work  appears  to  have  been  a  close  welding  together 
of  the  four  Canonical  Gospels.  For  instance,  it  com- 
mences with  John  i.  1-5,  and  proceeds  to  Luke  i.  5. 
John  i.  14,  Luke  i.  5-77,  Matt.  i.  18-25,  and  so 

*  Supernatural  Religion,  Vol.  II.  pp.  154—7. 
•f  Contemporary  Review,  May,  1877. 


AND    ITS   EVIDENCE  19 

cm.  One  of  the  leading  scholars  of  Germany,  Dr. 
Harnack,  who  is  entirely  unprejudiced  in  favour  of 
traditional  views,  says  that  they  are  so  closely  inter- 
woven, so  ingeniously  spun  together,  that  nowhere, 
so  to  say,  is  any  seam  visible.*  The  work,  indeed, 
\\us  not  a  harmony  in  the  sense  of  the  complete 
text  of  all  four  Gospels  being  harmonized ;  it  seems 
to  have  been  designed  and  used  as  a  concise  and  con- 
venient summary  of  them;  but  it  did  use  all  of 
them,  and  used  no  other  source.  The  main  fact, 
accordingly,  for  which  orthodox  critics  have  con- 
tended on  this  subject  is  now  generally  acknowledged, 
even  by  rationalistic  critics  abroad.  Tatian  is  ad- 
mitted as  a  decisive  witness  to  the  acceptance  of  our 
Four  Gospels  in  the  time  of  Justin  Martyr.  In 
other  words,  our  Four  Gospels,  and  only  our  four, 
are  allowed  to  have  been  the  recognized  authorities 
respecting  the  life  and  ministry  of  our  Lord  at  a 
time  when  their  very  existence  is  denied  by  the 
author  of  '  Supernatural  Religion.'  That  book  has 
received  so  much  unwarranted  attention  in  this 
country  that  it  seemed  worth  while  to  notice,  in 
passing,  its  proved  untrustworthiness ;  and  in  point 
of  fact  the  conclusions  which  its  author  asserts 
with  such  positiveness  are  as  much  in  conflict  with 


*  In  an    article    in    Brioger's  Zeitschrift  fur  Kirchengeschichte, 
Vol.  IV.  1881,  p.  47G. 

c  2 


20  THE   CHRISTIAN   CREED 

ft  great  deal  of  the  most  unsparing  criticism  of  the 
present  day  as  they  are  with  Christian  traditions. 

This,  however,  is  no  unusual  example  of  the  fate 
by   which,   sooner   or   later,   negative    criticism   is 
overtaken.    In  the  last  work  on  the  life  of  our  Lord, 
written   by   one   of  the   most   learned   of  German 
scholars,  Dr.  Bernhard  Weiss,  occurs  a  striking  testi- 
mony to  this  effect.    Dr.  Weiss,  indeed,  is  an  earnest 
believer  in  Christian  truth  ;  but  while  the  extent  and 
accuracy  of  his  learning  is  unquestioned,  he   pro- 
claims, at  the  outset  of  his  book,  that  he  does  not 
regard  his  faith  as  dependent  upon  the  authenticity 
of  the  Gospels,  and  he  does  not  scruple  to  treat  them 
as  occasionally  inaccurate.    His  testimony,  therefore, 
with  respect  to  the  actual  results  of  criticism  may  be 
accepted  as  impartial ;    and  this  is   what  he  says 
respecting  the  objections  raised  by  criticism  against 
the   external  testimonies   to   the   fourth  Gospel : — 
'  Baur  maintained  that  before  the  last  quarter  of  the 
second  century,  no  traces  of  the  fourth  Gospel  could 
be  found ;    but  his  disciples  have  been  compelled, 
step  by  step,  to  concede  one  after  another  of  the 
testimonies   against  which   he   contended.      Every 
new  discovery  since  his  day — the  Philosophumena 
with  their  rich  Johannine  citations  out  of  Gnostic 
writings,  the  conclusion  of  the  Clementines  with  the 
history  of  the  man  born  blind,  the  Syrian  Commen- 
tary on  Tatian's  Diatessaron — has  definitely  confuted 


AND   ITS    EVIDENCE  21 

contentions  of  criticism  which  had  been  long  and 
obstinately  upheld.'* 

The  lesson  to  be  drawn  from  such  instances  of 
the  failure  of  one  critical  theory  after  another  is 
sufficiently  obvious.     They  are  but  the  most  recent 
examples  of  the  general  truth  that  no  alternative 
theory  to  the  traditions   of  the   Christian  Church 
respecting  the  authorship  of  the  Gospels  has  ever 
held  its  ground,  and  that  no  definite  fact  in  opposition 
to  those  traditions  has  ever  been  established,  even 
to  the  general  satisfaction  of  negative  critics  them- 
selves.   In  view  of  this  result,  such  traditions  remain 
in  possession  of  the  authority  which  is  due  to  every 
witness  whose  statements  have  never  varied,  and  in 
whose  evidence  no  inconsistency  or  untruth  has  been 
established,   even    by   the    most    prolonged   cross- 
examination,  or  by  further  enquiry.     The  uniform 
testimony  of  the  earliest  Christian  antiquity  is  that 
St.  Matthew,  St.  Mark,  Sr.  Luke,  and  St.  John  were 
the  authors  of  the  Gospels  which  bear  their  names ; 
and  all  other  explanations  of  the  origin  of  those 
Gospels    have    either    destroyed    one   another,   or 
have   been   overthrown    by  new  discoveries.     This 
broad  fact  might  alone  be  sufficient  to  afford  us  a 
practical  foundation  for  our  faith.     But  I  propose 
in  the  next  Lecture  to  examine  more  particularly 


*  Das  Leben  Jem,  1882,  Vol.  I.  p.  92. 


22  THE   CHEISTIAN   CREED 

the  results  of  critical  enquiry  respecting  each  of 
our  Gospels,  as  illustrated  by  the  statements  of  the 
most  famous  unbeliever  of  our  day — M.  Eenan. 
With  his  assistance,  it  will  be  possible,  without 
following  in  detail  all  the  thorny  paths  of  the 
criticism  of  the  present  century,  to  estimate  the 
general  value  of  its  results.  The  long  debate  on 
this  subject  has,  in  fact,  at  last  reached  a  point 
at  which  even  simple  readers  may  sufficiently  see 
their  way,  provided  they  approach  the  subject  with- 
out those  prejudices  by  which,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
arguments  of  negative  criticism  are  marred.  In  sub- 
sequent Lectures,  we  will  consider  the  leading  facts  of 
our  Lord's  ministry  on  earth  as  they  are  summarized 
by  St.  Peter  in  the  text,  and  recited  in  the  creeds  of 
the  Church,  with  reference  at  once  to  their  spiritual 
significance  and  to  their  credibility.  In  pursuing 
such  an  enquiry  we  should  be  led  to  a  profitable 
contemplation  of  our  Lord's  character,  of  His  deeds 
and  words;  and  we  shall,  I  trust,  be  enabled  to 
place  a  more  implicit  and  unhesitating  faith  in 
those  grand  facts,  those  marvellous  exhibitions  of 
divine  power,  on  which  our  faith  as  Christians  is 
based.  May  God  grant  us  this  blessing,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord  ! 


LECTUKE    II 


THE  EESULTS  OF  MODERN  CRITICISM 

"  Then  returned  they  unto  Jerusalem  from  the  mount  called  Olivet, 
which  is  from  Jerusalem  a  sabbath  day's  journey.  And  when  they 
were  come  in,  they  went  up  into  an  upper  room,  where  abode  both 
Peter,  and  James,  and  John,  and  Andrew,  Philip,  and  Thomas,  Bartho- 
lomew, and  Matthew,  James  the  son  of  Alphaeus,  and  Simon  Zelotes, 
and  Judas  the  brother  of  James.  These  all  continued  with  one  accord 
in  prayer  and  supplication,  with  the  women,  and  Mary  the  mother  of 
Jesus,  and  with  His  brethren." — Acts  i.  12-14. 

IT  has  been  shown  in  the  previous  Lecture  that  all 
the  important  objections  to  the  authenticity  and 
credibility  of  the  Gospel  narratives,  as  we  possess 
them,  all  the  critical  arguments  which  have  been 
prominent  during  the  present  century,  have  started 
from  the  assumption  that  anything  miraculous  and 
supernatural  is  incredible,  and  that  therefore  any 
documents  which  profess  to  contain  a  record  of  it  must 
be,  in  some  degree,  legendary,  and  their  accounts 
must  need  to  be  explained  away.  The  consequence 
is  that  no  hostile  critic  of  the  Gospel  history  has 
approached  the  subject  impartially,  and  Christian 
writers  alone  are  willing  to  estimate  without  pre- 
judice the  testimony  offered,  and  to  accept  as  facts 


24  THE   EESULTS 

what  may  thus  be  established.  Some  striking  in- 
stances were  also  given  of  the  errors  into  which 
critics  have  been  betrayed  by  these  prejudices,  and 
of  the  damage  which  has  been  inflicted  on  their 
arguments  by  every  successive  discovery  in  early 
Christian  literature.  In  the  present  Lecture  I  pro- 
pose to  enquire  more  particularly  into  the  practical 
results  of  modern  criticism  respecting  the  Four 
Gospels,  and  to  ask  how  far  any  conclusions  have 
really  been  established  which  are  adverse  to  our  belief 
in  the  authenticity  and  credibility  of  those  books. 

For  this  purpose  I  shall  not  presume  to  rely 
upon  any  arguments  I  might  myself  urge  in  answer 
to  sceptical  critics.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  appeal 
to  the  evidence  of  a  witness  who  is  familiar  with 
the  whole  controversy,  who  is  a  master  of  all  the 
branches  of  learning  connected  with  it,  and  who  is 
not  only  unprejudiced  in  favour  of  Christian  belief, 
but  is  himself  the  most  famous  unbeliever  of  our 
day.  That  witness  is  M.  Kenan.  The  interpretation 
which  he  places  upon  the  evidence  he  feels  obliged 
to  admit,  the  manner  in  which,  under  the  influence 
of  his  rationalistic  prejudices,  he  explains  away  its 
natural  effect,  in  no  way  affect  the  character  and 
the  significance  of  the  admissions  themselves.  We 
are  concerned,  at  present,  simply  with  the  nature 
of  the  testimony  with  which  we  have  to  deal.  When 
that  is  substantially  ascertained,  we  shall  be  justified 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  25 

iii  interpreting  the  evidence  ourselves.  What  we 
wish  to  know,  in  the  first  instance,  is  how  far  modern 
criticism  has  seriously  succeeded  in  establishing 
solid  objections  against  the  constant  belief  of  the 
Church  that  we  possess  in  the  four  Gospels  the 
evidence  of  contemporaries  and  eye-witnesses.  On 
this  point  M.  Renan  is  an  authority  to  whom  sceptical 
critics,  at  all  events,  cannot  fairly  demur.  If  their 
contentions  have  not  been  established,  even  in  the 
main,  to  his  satisfaction,  Christian  writers,  or  apolo- 
gists— if  any  one  prefers  so  to  call  them — can  hardly 
be  accused  of  orthodox  prejudices  for  being  of  a 
similar  opinion. 

Now  the  third  Gospel  offers  peculiar  advantages  for 
entering  upon  this  question.  The  book  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  purports  to  be  by  the  same  writer ;  and 
the  latter  book,  from  the  manner  in  which  the  pro- 
noun '  We '  is  used  in  its  later  chapters  in  describing 
some  of  the  journeys  of  St.  Paul,  affords  internal 
evidence  of  unique  value  respecting  its  authorship. 
It  is  well  known  what  has  been  the  uniform  tradition 
of  the  Church  upon  the  subject,  as  well  as  how  vehe- 
mently it  has  been  attacked  by  the  chief  sceptical 
critics  of  Germany.  If  the  book  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  was  written  by  a  friend  and  companion  of  St. 
Paul,  the  chief  theories  of  Baur  and  his  school  at  once 
fall  to  the  ground,  and  accordingly  they  have  directed 
ceaseless  assaults  against  its  authenticity.  Bow  far 


26  THE    RESULTS 

have  they  succeeded  in  establishing  their  case  to 
the  satisfaction  of  a  scholar  like  M.  Renan  ?  They 
have  absolutely  failed.  After  reviewing  these  criti- 
cisms, he  says  in  the  introduction  to  his  work  on 
the  Apostles  :*  '  Must  we  be  checked  by  these  objec- 
tions ?  I  think  not ;  and  I  persist  in  believing  that 
the  final  composition  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is 
due  to  the  disciple  of  St.  Paul,  who  says  "  we "  in 
the  last  chapters.  All  the  difficulties,  however  in- 
soluble they  may  appear,  ought,  if  not  to  be  dis- 
missed, at  least  to  be  held  in  suspense,  in  presence 
of  an  argument  so  decisive  as  that  which  results 
from  that  word  "  we." '  He  further  considers  that 
the  tradition  is  correct,  according  to  which  this 
disciple  was  St.  Luke,  and  concludes  :t  '  We  think, 
therefore,  that  the  author  of  the  third  Gospel  and 
of  the  Acts  is  in  all  reality  Luke,  the  disciple  of 
Paul.'  So  again,  in  the  introduction  to  his  '  Life 
of  Jesus,'  he  says  it  is  evident  that  if  the  titles  of 
the  four  Gospels  are  correct  they  at  least  carry  us 
back  to  the  half-century  which  followed  the  death 
of  Jesus  ;  and  he  proceeds  4  *  As  to  Luke  doubt  is 
scarcely  possible.  The  Gospel  of  Luke  is  a  regular 
composition,  founded  on  previous  documents.  It  is 
the  work  of  a  man  who  chooses,  curtails,  combines. 
The  author  of  this  Gospel  is  certainly  the  same  as 

*  Les  Apotres  1866  p.  xiv.  t  P-  xviii. 

J   Vie  de  Jesus,  1876,  p.  xlix. 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  27 

the  author  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  But  the 
author  of  the  Acts  appears  to  be  a  companion  of 
St.  Paul,  a  description  which  agrees  completely 
with  Luke.'  He  adds  that  he  knows  that  more 
than  one  objection  can  be  raised  to  this  statement ; 
but  he  considers  that  one  thing  at  least  is  beyond 
doubt — though  nothing  has  been  more  vehemently 
doubted  in  Germany — namely,  '  that  the  author  of 
the  third  Gospel  and  of  the  Acts  is  a  man  of  the 
second  apostolic  generation,  and  this  suffices  for  our 
purpose  ' — that  is  for  the  .  purpose  of  showing  that, 
at  the  least,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  '  carries  us 
back  to  the  half-century  which  followed  the  death 
of  Jesus.'  But,  as  we  have  seen,  in  his  later  work 
on  '  The  Apostles/  he  avows  his  own  opinion  un- 
shaken that  the  author  is  St.  Luke.  M.  Reuan 
further  assumes,  from  internal  evidence,  that  the 
Gospel  was  written  after  the  siege  of  Jerusalem. 
His  reasons  for  this  opinion  might  be  shown 
to  l>e  very  insufficient;  but  it  is  enough  for  our 
purpose  that  he  says  it  was  written  not  long  after- 
wards— that  is,  not  long  after  the  year  70 — within 
the  lifetime,  therefore,  of  Apostles  and  contempo- 
raries of  our  Lord.  According  to  the  ordinary  com- 
putation, our  Lord  was  crucified  in  the  year  80,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-three.  Persons,  therefore,  who 
were  actually  contemporary  with  Him  would  have 
been  alive  at  the  time  St.  Luke  wrote,  and  in  earlier 


28  THE    RESULTS 

years  he  would  have  been  in  communication  with 
numbers  of  such  persons.  We  cannot  but  fully 
adopt  M.  Eenan's  own  words  when  he  adds,  '  We 
are  here,  then,  upon  solid  ground ;  for  we  have 
before  us  a  work  proceeding  entirely  from  the  same 
hand,  and  marked  by  the  most  perfect  unity.' 

Now  the  vast  import  of  this  admission  will  be 
readily  apparent.  The  intimacy  between  St.  Paul 
and  St.  Luke  was  peculiarly  close  and  prolonged. 
We  know  from  St.  Paul's  Epistles,  that  St.  Luke 
possessed  his  complete  confidence  ;  and  we  cannot 
therefore  but  conclude  that  St.  Luke's  narrative, 
both  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  and  in  the  Gospel, 
is  supported  by  the  knowledge  and  the  belief  of 
St.  Paul.  Nor  of  St.  Paul  only  ;  for  St.  Paul,  and 
St.  Luke  with  him,  were  in  intimate  association  with 
other  Apostles  and  Evangelists.  St.  Luke,  for  in- 
stance, according  to  the  evidence  afforded  by  those 
passages  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  to  which 
reference  has  been  made,  accompanied  St.  Paul  on 
his  last  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  during  that  visit,  at 
any  rate,  would  have  had  constant  opportunities  for 
communication  with  the  other  Apostles  who  were 
living  there,  and  probably  also  with  relations  of  our 
Lord,  including  the  Virgin  Mary,  His  mother.  Un- 
less, therefore,  we  disbelieve  in  the  veracity  of  St. 
Luke — which,  it  may  be  safely  said,  no  serious  per- 
son does — we  have  in  his  Gospel  a  faithful  report  of 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  29 

direct   contemporary    and   Apostolic   testimony  re- 
specting the  facts  which  he  records.     He  tells  us  in 
his  prologue  that  many  records  of  that  testimony 
already  existed ;  and  during  his  companionship  with 
St.  Paul  he  must  have  been  in  a  most  favourable 
position  for  making  enquiries  respecting  such  state- 
ments,   and  obtaining   supplementary   information. 
He  therefore  declares  in  his  preface  the  simple  fact, 
when   he   says   that  he  had  been  in  a  position  to 
obtain  a  perfect  understanding  of  all  things  from 
the  very  first.     This,  let  me  repeat,  is  not  a  con- 
tention which  I  am  endeavouring  to  uphold  against 
the  general  consent  of  critics ;  it  is  not  the  argu- 
ment of  a  Christian   controversialist   or   apologist 
alone ;    it  is  the  admission  of  the  most  prominent 
representative  of  disbelief  in  the  ancient  Christian 
creed  in  the  present  day.     The  result  is  to  justify 
us    in    concluding    that    criticism   has   established 
nothing,  at  all  events,  against  the  authenticity  of 
the  Gospel  of  St.  Luke,  and  to  assure  us  that  we 
have  in  it  a  record  of    the  narratives  and  convic- 
tions of  eye-witnesses. 

Now,  this  consideration  leads  us  a  long  way  back, 
and  throws  great  light  on  the  authority  to  be 
attributed  to  the  other  Gospels,  and  particularly  to 
those  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark.  Not  to  trouble 
you  with  the  details  of  a  critical  argument,  it  will 
be  more  than  enough  to  accept  what  M.  Kenan  pro- 


30  THE    EESULTS 

ceeds  to  allow :  '  In  general,'  he  says,  '  the  Gospel 
of  St.  Luke  appears  to  be  of  a  later  date  than  the 
two  first,  and  has  the  character  of  having  been  more 
carefully  finished.'  But  he  admits  there  is  no  doubt, 
from  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  earliest  Christian 
writers,  Papias,  that  certain  documents  were  written 
by  both  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  which  corre- 
sponded, in  their  substantial  character,  to  the  two 
Gospels  we  now  possess  under  those  names.  He 
considers  that  the  original  form  of  them  has  been 
added  to  and  modified,  but  nevertheless,  in  his 
opinion,  St.  Matthew  '  deserves  an  exceptional  confi- 
dence '  in  his  report  of  our  Lord's  discourses  ;  and 
as  for  St.  Mark's  Gospel,  it  is  'full  of  minute 
observations,  proceeding  without  doubt  from  an  eye- 
witness ; '  and  there  is  nothing,  he  adds,  '  to  conflict 
with  the  report  of  Papias,  that  this  eye-witness,  who 
had  evidently  followed  Jesus,  who  had  loved  Him 
and  watched  Him  closely,  and  had  preserved  a  vivid 
image  of  Him,  was  the  Apostle  St.  Peter  himself.'* 

It  will  probably  be  felt  to  be  more  satisfactory, 
for  the  purposes  of  our  present  argument,  to  adopt 
these  admissions  from  a  witness  hostile  to  the  belief 
of  the  Church,  than  to  urge  on  our  own  part  the 
arguments  which  might  be  adduced  in  favour  of  still 
more  definite  conclusions.  There  seems  a  vague 


Vie  de  J&us,  pp.  ].,  Ixxxi.,  Ixxxiii. 


OF    MODERN   CRITICISM  31 

feeling  abroad — a  feeling  based,   probably,  on  re- 
iterated assertion   rather  than    on   careful   reading 
— that   there   is   a   general    consent    of    unbiassed 
criticism  against  the  early  date  of  the  Gospel  nar- 
ratives,  and    consequently   against   our   possessing 
in  them  the  reports  of  eye-witnesses  and  of  friends 
of  eye-witnesses.    It  seems,  therefore,  of  the  highest 
importance  it   should   be  well    understood  that,  in 
the    deliberate  and   matured   opinion   of  a   person 
like  M.  Renan,  there  is  no  such  critical  presumption 
against  the  general  authority  of  the  Gospels;  but 
that,  on  the  contrary,  although  he  thinks  the  Gospels 
of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  have  been  in  some 
degree  altered  from  their  original  form,  the  records 
of  our  Lord's   discourses   in   the    one  Gospel   may 
be  received  with  peculiar  confidence,   and  the  re- 
ports of  His  actions  in  the  Second  Gospel  bear  the 
mark  of  proceeding  from  an  eye-witness,  who  most 
probably  was  St.  Peter  himself.     No  wonder  that  he 
adds,   *  In  conclusion,  I   admit  the   four  canonical 
Gospels  as  serious  documents.     They  go  back  to  the 
age  which  followed  the  death  of  Jesus.'*     A  broad 
result  of  this  kind  is  clearly  worth  a  great   deal 
more  than  any  qualifications  with  which,  to  meet  his 
own  ideas  of  what  is  possible  or  impossible,  a  critic 
may  accompany  it.     For  all  purposes  of  ordinary 
historic  evidence — and  for  our  present  argument  it 
*   Vie  de  Jesus,  Ixxxi. 


32  THE   RESULTS 

is  unnecessary  to  push,  the  admission  further — it 
will,  we  think,  be  felt  that  if  St.  Matthew  may  be 
specially  trusted  respecting  our  Lord's  words,  and  St. 
Mark  gives  the  report  of  an  eye-witness  respecting 
his  deeds,  and  St.  Luke  affords  a  connected  review  of 
both,  according  to  the  evidence  of  Apostles  and  con- 
temporaries, the  record  of  His  ministry  which  results 
from  the  combined  evidence  of  the  first  three  Gospels 
may  be  accepted  in  all  its  main  outlines  as  supported 
by  the  most  direct  evidence.  There  is  no  such 
material  difference  between  the  records  of  our  Lord's 
deeds  in  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark  as  to  make  the 
variations  on  which  M.  Renan  afterwards  dwells  of 
any  considerable  importance.  The  story  in  each 
Gospel  is  substantially  the  same  ;  and  if  one  of  the 
three  Gospels  proceeded  from  an  eye-witness,  or 
was  the  record  of  an  eye-witness's  report,  there  is 
no  reason  why  the  other  two  should  not  have  pro- 
ceeded from  a  similar  authority.  The  great  fact 
which  remains,  at  the  close  of  the  long  critical 
debate  of  the  last  two  generations,  is  that  in  the 
Gospels  we  do  possess  accounts  of  our  Lord's  life 
and  ministry  written  either  by  Apostles  themselves, 
or  by  companions  of  Apostles — by  persons,  that  is, 
who  had  either  themselves  witnessed  our  Lord's 
deeds  and  heard  His  words,  or  who  were  in  inti- 
mate association  with  those  who  had. 

The    admission     just    quoted    from    M.    Renan 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  33 

applies,  it  will  be  observed,  to  the  Gospel  of  St. 
John,  as  well  as  to  the  first  three  Gospels;  but 
the  position  of  criticism  on  this  latter  point  is  so 
remarkable  as  to  deserve  especial  attention.  M. 
Kenan's  opinion  is  perhaps  the  most  extraordinary 
of  all  which  have  been  expressed.  It  has  fluc- 
tuated in  a  very  singular  manner ;  but  on  one  point 
it  has  not  altered.  In  the  first  edition  of  his  *  Life 
of  Jesus,'  and  in  the  sixth  volume  of  his  'Origins 
of  Christianity,'  he  confesses  himself  greatly  struck 
by  the  incidental  indications  of  authenticity  pre- 
sented by  the  fourth  Gospel.  He  notices  the  *  slight 
traces  of  precision ;'  the  '  freshness  of  its  remi- 
niscences,' '  like  those  of  old  age  ;'  the  little  touches 
of  detail, — '  It  was  the  sixth  hour ;'  'It  was  night ;' 
'  The  man's  name  was  Malchus ;'  '  They  had  made  a 
fire  of  coals,  for  it  was  cold,'  and  the  like.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  he  cannot  endure  the  discourses 
which  are  attributed  to  our  Lord  in  that  Gospel. 
He  calls  them  '  prolix,'  '  arid,'  '  interminable,' 
*  full  of  abstruse  metaphysics  and  personal  allega- 
tions.' He  is  thus  divided  between  the  conviction, 
on  the  one  hand,  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Gospel 
which  is  forced  on  him  by  the  narrative  portions  of 
it,  and  the  doubts  of  its  authenticity,  on  the  other 
hand,  which  arise  from  his  inability  to  appreciate  the 
discourses  of  our  Saviour.  Between  these  opposing 
influences  he  has  oscillated,  now  regarding  the  Gospel 


34  THE    RESULTS 

as  substantially  the  work  of  St.  John,  although  edited 
and  retouched  by  his  disciples,  and  again  supposing 
that  it  was  not  the  work  of  St.  John,  but  of  one  of 
his  disciples,  the  discourses  being  factitious,  but  the 
narrative  parts,  including  precious  traditions,  being 
due  to  St.  John.  His  final  conclusion,  in  his  sixth 
volume,  embodies  these  contradictions  in  their  most 
remarkable  form.  'The  fourth  Gospel,'  we  are  told, 
'though  a  writing  of  no  value  for  the  purpose  of 
knowing  how  Jesus  spoke,  is  superior  to  the  other 
three  in  respect  to  matters  of  fact.'*  Could  there 
be  a  more  extraordinary  phenomenon  than  this — a 
work  which  possesses  in  the  highest  degree  the 
value  of  an  eye-witness's  report  on  the  deeds  of  the 
person  of  whom  it  speaks,  but  which  is  of  no  value 
at  all  in  respect  to  his  words  ? 

But,  again,  what  I  am  mainly  concerned  to  point 
out  is  the  broad  fact  that  even  hostile  criticism  is 
compelled  to  make  these  admissions ;  and  it  is  par- 
ticularly interesting  to  observe  that  the  Gospel  of 
St.  John  has  baffled  continually  even  the  most  reck- 
less critics  by  its  vivid  internal  marks  of  genuine- 
ness. There  is  a  candour  about  German  criticism 
which  often  redeems  some  of  its  worst  faults ; 
and  the  history  of  its  opinions  on  this  subject 
betrays  a  vacillation  not  less  remarkable  than  that 


L'Eglise   Chre'tienne,    1879, 


M.  Godet   in  the  Revue   Chre- 


pp.   58,  50.      Cf.   an  article   by    tienne  for  1880,  p.  129. 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  35 

of  M.  Kenan.  The  most  remarkable  illustration 
of  all,  perhaps,  is  furnished  by  Strauss  himself.  He 
started  from  the  assumption  of  the  unauthenticity 
of  St.  John's  Gospel ;  and  in  point  of  fact,  his  whole 
attempt  to  resolve  the  Gospel  history  into  a  myth 
would  have  been  condemned  beforehand,  if  that 
Gospel  were  really  the  work  of  an  Apostle.  Never- 
theless, in  the  preface  to  the  third  edition  of  his 
'  Life  of  Jesus,'  he  makes  the  confession  that,  under  a 
renewed  study  of  the  Fourth  Gospel,  his  early  doubts 
of  its  authenticity  and  credibility  had  themselves 
become  doubtful  to  him.  At  that  point  in  his  career, 
after  writing  his  notorious  book  on  the  supposition 
of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John  not  being  authentic,  he 
begins  to  think  it  may  be,  after  all ;  but  he  returns 
at  length  to  his  old  mind,  and  doubts  once  more  the 
doubts  he  had  entertained  of  his  original  doubts.* 
So,  again,  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  candid,  as 
well  as  most  learned,  of  Church  historians  in  Ger- 
many, whose  manual  on  the  Life  of  our  Lord  has 
been  a  text-book  in  that  country  for  fifty  yean*, 
Dr.  Karl  Hase,  after  maintaining  all  his  life  the 
authenticity  of  the  Gospel,  surrenders  it  in  a  larger 
work  on  the  same  subject  published  in  1875,  but 
adds  that  after  all  he  does  not  feel  sure,  and  thinks 
it  very  possible  that  the  old  opinion  will  again  pre- 

*  See  a  very  interesting  ac-  i  schichte   Jesu,  1876,  pp.   26-.*);) 
count  of  the  controversy  on  this  !  especially  p.  32. 
subject  in   Dr.  Karl  Base's  Ge- 

D    2 


36  THE   RESULTS 

vail.*     The  practical  conclusion  to  be  drawn  from 
all  this  fluctuation  seems  not  sufficiently  attended 
to.     That  conclusion  is,  that  it  is  a  pure  illusion  to 
suppose   that   there   is   any   general  agreement   of 
critical  authority  against   the   authenticity  of  the 
four  documents  on  which  the  faith  of  the  Church 
respecting  the  life  and  work  of  our  Lord  reposes. 
On  the  contrary,  the  assault  has  from  first  to  last 
been  a  wavering  one,  even  under  the  most  daring 
leaders ;  and  the  main  positions  for  which  a  Chris- 
tian writer  cares  to  contend  are  now  practically  sur- 
rendered by  the  most  prominent  of  our  antagonists. 
In  view  of  these  considerations,  we  seem  to  be 
justified  in  dismissing  once  for  all  any  doubts  as  to 
the  fact  that  the  Gospels  may  be  substantially  ac- 
cepted for  what  they  profess  to  be,  and  for  what  the 
Church  has  hitherto  regarded  them — memoirs  of  our 
Lord's  life  and  ministry,  written  by  men  who  either 
were  eye-witnesses,  or  who,  like  St.  Luke,  had  had 
perfect  understanding  of  all  things  from  the  very 
first.     The  only  question  which  remains,  therefore, 
is  that  of  the  credibility  of  these  eye-witnesses  and 
contemporary  writers.  Can  we  rely  on  their  accounts 
of  the  events  which  they  had  seen  and  heard,  as 
being    truthful,  and    uncoloured    by   superstitious 
imaginations  ?    Now,  I   do  not  suppose   that  any 
serious  enquirer  doubts  the  truthfulness  in  point  of 

*  Geschichte  Jesu,  p.  52. 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  37 

intention  of  the  writers  of  the  four  Gospels.  It  is 
enough  to  say  on  that  point  that  they  were  disciples 
in  the  greatest  school  of  Truth  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Whatever  else  may  be  thought  of  them,  there 
is  no  question  that  they  record,  in  page  after  page, 
moral  teaching  which  brings  the  fiercest  light  of 
Divine  truthfulness  to  bear  on  the  very  springs  and 
recesses  of  the  heart.  The  discourses  of  our  Lord 
recorded  by  them  correspond'  pre-eminently  to  that 
description  of  the  Word  of  God,  that  it  is  '  quick, 
and  powerful,  and  sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword, 
piercing  even  to  the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and 
spirit,  and  of  the  joints  and  marrow,  and  is  a  dis- 
cerner  of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.'  Men 
who  wrote  with  the  consciousness  of  that  fiery  sword 
suspended,  as  it  were,  over  their  heads,  cannot  but 
have  been  incapable  of  any  conscious  untruthfulness. 
The  force  of  this  consideration  receives  a  striking 
illustration  in  some  remarks  by  M.  Renan,  in  his 
final  review  of  the  problem  presented  by  the  Gospel 
of  St.  John,  in  the  appendix  to  the  ultimate  edition 
of  his  '  Life '  of  our  Lord.  His  tact  and  candour  in 
dealing  with  purely  historical  difficulties  are  often 
in  striking  contrast  to  his  treatment  of  moral 
problems,  and  nowhere  is  this  contrast  more  re- 
markable than  in  his  summary,  in  the  passage 
referred  to,  of  the  evidence  respecting  the  author- 
ship of  the  fourth  Gospel.  But  the  point  to  which 


38  THE   RESULTS 

1  would  specially  call  attention  for  our  present  pur- 
pose is  the  following :  M.  Eenan  fully  admits  that 
we  have  to  choose  between  acknowledging  that  this 
Gospel  was  really  written  by  St.  John,  and  alleging 
that  it  was  a  deliberate  fraud.  We  must  choose,  he 
says,  between  two  alternatives — 'either  the  author 
of  the  fourth  Gospel  is  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  an  inti- 
mate disciple,  and  attached  to  him  from  the  earliest 
moment ;  or  else  the  author  has  employed,  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  himself  authority,  an  artifice 
which  has  been  followed  from  the  beginning  of  the 
book  to  the  end,  and  which  was  designed  to  make  it 
believed  that  he  was  a  witness  in  the  best  position 
possible  for  reporting  the  truth  of  the  events.' 

'  Who,'  asks  M.  Eenan,  '  is  the  disciple  of  whose 
authority  the  author  thus  designs  to  avail  himself? 
The  title  tells  us  :  it  is  "John."  There  is  not  the 
slightest  reason  to  suppose  that  this  title  was  added 
contrary  to  the  intentions  of  the  real  author.  .  .  . 
We  must  therefore  choose  between  two  hypotheses  : 
— either  to  recognize  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  as 
the  author  of  the  fourth  Gospel,  or  to  regard  this 
Gospel  as  an  apocryphal  writing  composed  by  some 
one  who  wished  to  pass  it  off  as  the  work  of  John, 
the  son  of  Zebedee.  In  a  word,  this  is  not  a  question 
of  legends,  the  work  of  the  multitude,  for  which  no 
one  in  particular  is  responsible.  A  man  who,  in 
order  to  give  credence  to  what  he  narrates,  deceives 


OF   MODERN   CRITICISM  39 

the  public  not  only  with  respect  to  his  name,  but 
still  more  with  respect  to  the  value  of  his  witness, 
is  not  a  writer  of  legends  ;  he  is  a  forger  .  .  .  This 
falsification,  moreover,  is  not  the  only  one  which  the 
author  would  on  this  supposition  have  committed. 
We  have  three  Epistles,  which  likewise  bear  the 
name  of  John.  If  there  is  anything  probable  in 
criticism  it  is  that  the  first  at  least  of  these  Epistles 
is  by  the  same  author  as  the  fourth  Gospel.  One 
might  almost  call  it  a  chapter  detached  from  the 
Gospel.  .  .  .  The  author  of  this  Epistle,  like  the  author 
of  the  Gospel,  offers  himself  as  an  eye- witness  (1  John 
i.  1  sq.;  iv.  14)  of  the  evangelical  history.  He  presents 
himself  as  a  man  well  known,  and  enjoying  high  con- 
sideration in  the  Church.'  M.  Renan  himself  con- 
cludes :  '  At  the  first  view,  it  seems  that  the  most 
natural  hypothesis  is  to  admit  that  all  these  writings 
are  really  the  work  of  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee.'  * 

The  most  natural  hypothesis !  An  appeal  may 
confidently  be  made  to  common  sense  and  common 
feeling  whether,  on  the  basis  of  the  facts  thus  stated 
by  M.  Renan,  any  other  hypothesis  would  not  be  in 
the  highest  degree  unnatural  and  intolerable.  Un- 
less the  fourth  Gospel  and  the  First  Epistle  of  John 
were  really  written  by  the  Apostle  who  bore  that 
name,  then  whoever  wrote  them  was  a  forger  and  a 
liar !  These — to  repeat  an  observation  already  made 

*   Vie  de  J&us,  15th  edition,  pp.  537-9. 


40  THE   RESULTS 

— are  not  my  words.  They  are  the  admissions,  and 
the  very  expressions  of  the  most  famous  sceptic  of 
our  day.  But  can  any  conceivable  difficulties  of 
criticism,  any  contrast,  for  instance,  between  the 
literary  style  of  the  Apocalypse  and  of  the  fourth 
Gospel,  be  compared  to  the  moral  difficulty  which  is 
here  stated  with  such  candour  and  force  ?  To  those, 
perhaps,  who  can  persuade  themselves  with  M.  Renan 
that  the  discourses  of  our  Lord  in  the  fourth  Gospel 
are  *  dry,'  '  metaphysical,'  '  flat  and  impossible,'  such 
a  difficulty  may  not  appear  so  enormous.  But 
as  long  as,  by  the  wisdom  of  our  reformers,  those 
discourses  are  read  and  re-read,  year  by  year,  in  the 
ears  of  English  Christians,  any  such  judgment  on 
them  will  but  serve  to  disable  fatally  the  moral 
apprehension  of  the  critic  by  whom  it  is  pronounced. 
You  know  that  there  are  no  portions  of  the  Scrip- 
tures which  go  more  directly  to  your  hearts,  which 
appeal  with  such  combined  tenderness,  truth,  and 
force,  to  your  innermost  sympathies  and  your  truest 
convictions.  There  may  be  much  in  them  which 
is  above  your  comprehension  ;  but  you  are  none  the 
less  sensible  that,  when  listening  to  them,  you  are 
breathing  an  atmosphere  of  the  purest  simplicity 
and  veracity,  and  you  are  forced  to  pay  homage  to 
the  claim,  of  the  speaker  when  He  says  '  I  am  the 
truth.'  But,  at  any  rate,  there  can  surely  be  no 
difference  of  opinion  respecting  the  spirit  which 


OF   MODERN    CRITICISM 


41 


animates  the  First  Epistle  of  St.  John.  '  This  is 
the  message  which  we  have  heard  of  Him  and  de- 
clare unto  you,  that  God  is  light,  and  in  Him  is  no 
darkness  at  all.  If  we  say  that  we  have  fellowship 
with  Him,  and  walk  in  darkness,  we  lie  and  do  not 
the  truth.'  'He  that  saith,  I  know  Him,  and 
keepeth  not  His  commandments,  is  a  liar,  and  the 
truth  is  not  in  him.'  Is  it  morally  conceivable  that 
the  man  who  wrote  such  sentences  as  these  was 
capable  of  the  deliberate  and  elaborate  fraud  of 
writing  a  Gospel,  implying  '  I  knew  Him '  on  every 
page,  when  the  whole  work  was  a  forgery  and  the 
suggestion  a  lie  ?  If  there  are  any  writings  in  the 
world  which  bear  the  stamp  of  the  intense  truthful- 
ness of  the  author,  they  are  the  First  Epistle  of 
St.  John  and  the  fourth  Gospel ;  and  when  a  critic 
like  M.  Eenan  is  forced  to  admit  that  they  must 
either  be  the  work  of  the  Apostle  or  the  work  of 
a  forger,  our  moral  sense  may  well  be  revolted  at 
being  asked  to  choose  between  such  alternatives. 

But  allowing  that  the  authors  of  our  Four 
Gospels  were  incapable  of  untruth,  were  they 
capable  of  hallucination?  That,  no  doubt,  is  a 
possibility  which  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  ac- 
count. But  here,  again,  the  answer  may  well  be 
similar  to  that  offered  to  the  last  objection.  Not 
only  were  these  men  disciples  in  the  greatest  school 
of  truthfuhiess  the  world  has  ever  seen ;  they  were 


42  THE    RESULTS 

disciples  not  less  in  the  school  of  the  sternest 
realities  the  -world  has  ever  seen.  At  the  risk, 
and  in  many  cases  at  the  actual  cost,  of  a  death 
like  that  of  their  Master,  a  death  of  torture  and  of 
ignominy,  they  declared  themselves  to  be  in  posses- 
sion of  the  secret  of  salvation  for  the  world,  of 
truths  by  which  mankind  might  be  regenerated ; 
and  they  proclaimed  themselves  the  servants  of  a 
Lord  who  was  destined  to  rule  the  hearts  of  men. 
If  any  beliefs  would  have  seemed  more  like  hallu- 
cination than  any  other  to  the  men  of  that  day,  it 
would  have  been  these  cardinal  elements  in  the  belief 
of  the  Evangelists  and  Apostles.  St.  Paul's  message 
was  equal  foolishness  in  the  eye  of  a  Jew  and  of  a 
Greek.  To  a  Jew  it  seemed  incredible  that  the 
Gentiles  should  become  heirs  of  all  the  spiritual 
education  of  his  forefathers ;  to  the  Greek  or  Roman 
it  seemed  a  ridiculous  conception  that  he  should 
submit  his  wisdom,  his  art,  and  his  power  to  the 
authority  of  a  crucified  Jew.  These,  as  I  have  said, 
might  have  seemed  hallucinations,  if  you  will.  But 
these  very  beliefs,  the  most  incredible  of  all  at  that 
time,  we  know  to  have  been  founded  in  truth,  and  we 
see  the  verification  of  them  before  our  eyes.  The 
two  Apostles  in  whose  daily  company  St.  Luke  and 
St.  Mark  lived,  and  the  other  two  Evangelists, 
St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  have  laid  down  the  moral 
principles  on  which  the  whole  fabric  of  the  highest 


OF    MODERN   CRITICISM  43 

civilized  society  now  reposes,  and  in  which  every 
thoughtful  man  sees  the  germs  and  the  guarantee 
of  the  future  progress  of  our  race. 

Now  consider  to  what  this  amounts.  It  shows  that 
wherever  we  are  able  to  put  to  the  proof,  not  merely 
the  truthfulness,  but  the  sobriety,  the  practical  in- 
sight, the  moral  and  spiritual  penetration,  of  the 
Evangelists  and  Apostles,  their  possession  of  these 
qualities  is  vindicated  by  experience  on  the  largest 
possible  scale.  In  these  Gospels  and  Epistles  a  sun 
suddenly  appeared  in  the  spiritual  heaven  of  man- 
kind, which  eclipsed,  by  the  intensity  of  its  illumi- 
nation, all  lesser  lights  in  the  moral  firmament. 
This  is  the  phenomenon  which  places  the  testimony 
of  the  Evangelists  and  Apostles  on  so  different  a 
footing  from  that  of  any  other  evidence  to  events  at 
all  similar  in  character.  To  quote  instances  of 
legends  attaching  to  the  origin  of  other  religions 
is  beside  the  mark,  until  an  instance  can  be  pro- 
duced of  such  legends  being  associated  as  in  this 
with  supreme  truth,  wisdom,  purity,  and  good- 
ness. Putting  out  of  sight  for  the  moment  the 
question  of  miracles,  there  appears  a  general  agree- 
ment of  the  most  thoughtful  men  of  all  schools  that 
there  is  not  one  sentiment,  or  even  one  word,  for 
which  the  Evangelists  or  their  Master  are  responsible 
which  do(!s  not  harmonize  with  the  highest  conceiv- 
able ideals  of  all  that  is  good  and  true.  Now,  would 


44  THE   RESULTS 

not  such  uniform  and  ideal  perfection  be  itself  a 
miracle  of  the  most  perplexing  and  distressing  kind, 
if  it  were  combined  with  the  hallucination  which  is  at- 
tributed to  the  Evangelists  by  rationalistic  criticism  ? 
Let  it  be  acknowledged,  by  all  means,  that 
we  do  need  evidence  of  the  most  overwhelming 
and  irrefragable  character  to  establish  the  credibility 
of  the  Gospel  records ;  as,  for  instance,  of  those  narra- 
tives of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  to  which  in  the  next 
Lecture  I  will  make  some  special  reference.  They 
are  indeed  stupendous  events,  out  of  the  range  of  all 
known  experience — by  no  means  indeed  inconceiv- 
able, for  one  of  the  objections  against  them  is  that 
the  human  mind  has  conceived  and  imagined  such 
occurrences  again  and  again — but  not  to  be  cre- 
dited without  the  highest  possible  moral  evidence. 
Hume's  famous  test  seems  by  no  means  nn  unfair  one 
for  such  cases.  To  establish  a  miracle,  the  testimony 
should  be  of  such  a  kind  that  its  falsehood  would  be 
more  miraculous  than  the  fact  which  it  endeavours  to 
establish.  At  all  events,  we  need  not  as  Christians 
shrink  from  the  application  of  that  test.  To  sup- 
pose that  writers  who  declared  with  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity, clearness,  and  force  the  profoundest  truths 
of  our  moral  nature,  and  who  staked  their  lives 
on  the  fulfilment,  against  all  likelihood,  and  by 
the  mere  operation  of  moral  and  spiritual  forces,  of 
the  mightiest  of  all  revolutions  in  human  history, 


OF   MODERN   CEITICISM  45 

whose  declarations  are  true  wherever  we  have  been 
able  to  test  them — to  suppose  that  men  who,  if  I 
may  so  express  it,  had  stood  at  the  very  centre  of 
the  human  universe,  who  saw  the  law  of  gravita- 
tion of  the  whole  spiritual  system,  and  determined, 
centuries  beforehand,  the  orbits  in  which  its  chief 
planets  would  roll — that  such  men  should  have 
been  visionaries  and  enthusiasts,  capable  of  hal- 
lucinations about  occurrences  which  were  indissolu- 
bly  bound  up  with  the  truths  they  proclaimed — 
this  would  be  worse  than  miraculous ;  it  would  be 
monstrous. 

Accordingly,  when  all  is  said,  the  question  of  the 
credibility  of  the  Gospels  will  be  found  to  turn,  in 
the  main,  upon  internal  evidence.  They  are  their 
own  best  witnesses.  It  is  the  conspicuous  and  in- 
tense veracity  of  their  authors  which  has  chiefly 
maintained  their  authority  through  the  controversies 
of  eighteen  centuries,  and  which  maintains  them 
still.  It  is  this  which  gives  them  so  firm  a  hold 
upon  the  hearts  of  believers,  and  by  which  all  the 
difficulties  raised  by  criticism  are  ultimately  shat- 
tered. Such  evidence  as  we  have  been  dwelling  on 
may  not,  indeed,  be  formally  demonstrative.  In 
that  respect  it  shares  the  character  of  almost  all 
historical  and  literary  evidence.  But  it  will  ever 
be  convincing  to  those  who  recognize  the  supreme 
moral  and  spiritual  force  inherent  in  our  Lord's 


46  RESULTS   OF   MODERN    CRITICISM 

words,  and  in  the  records  of  the  Evangelists.  As 
we  have  seen,  the  objections  raised  against  the  au- 
thenticity of  a  Gospel  like  that  of  St.  John  depend, 
in  the  ultimate  resort,  on  the  question  whether  the 
discourses  of  our  Lord  in  that  Gospel  are  pregnant 
with  moral  and  spiritual  truth,  or  are  arid  and  meta- 
physical. A  man  whose  moral  sense  is  closed  to 
their  force  cannot  be  convinced  by  any  amount 
of  evidence  that  the  Gospel,  as  a  whole,  is  the  work 
of  an  Apostle.  But  in  proportion  as  those  words 
enter  your  hearts  and  pierce  them  like  a  two-edged 
sword,  in  proportion  as  the  moral  force  of  the  Gospels 
overpowers  your  whole  nature,  will  you  be  prepared 
to  give  due  weight  to  the  other  elements  in  their 
testimony,  and  will  you  be  disposed  to  think  that 
the  most  incredible  of  all  things  would  be  that  they 
should  not  be  literally  true. 


(    47    ) 


LECTURE    III 


"  Now  the  birth  of  Jesus  Christ  was  on  this  wise  :  When  as  His 
mother  Mary  was  espoused  to  Joseph,  before  they  came  together,  she 
was  found  with  child  of  the  Holy  Ghost." — Matthew  i.  18. 

IT  has  now  been  shown  that  we  stand  on  firm  ground 
in  accepting  the  narratives  of  the  Four  Gospels  as 
faithful  records  of  the  life  and  ministry  of  our  Lord  ; 
that  they  contain,  at  least  in  all  substantial  points, 
the  direct  testimony  of  two  eye-witnesses,  and  the 
reports  of  two  other  persons  who  were  in  direct  and 
intimate  communication  with  eye-witnesses.  We 
have  further  seen  how  immense  is  the  presumption 
in  favour  alike  of  the  truthfulness  of  the  Evangelists 
and  of  their  soundness  of  judgment,  afforded  on  the 
one  hand  by  the  profound  love  of  truth  which  they 
display,  and  on  the  other  hand  by  the  verification 
which  experience  has  afforded  of  their  insight  into 
the  great  realities  of  man's  moral  nature  and  of  the 
course  of  history.  When  they  thus  command  our 
confidence  on  all  the  more  central  and  weighty 
matters  of  their  testimony,  it  is  natural  to  conclude 
that  they  must  equally  deserve  it  in  details ;  and 
we  shall  at  least  be  prepared  to  hold  our  judgment 


48  THE   BIETH 

in  suspense  in  respect  to  minor  difficulties  in  their 
narratives. 

These  considerations  must  be  carefully  borne  in 
mind  in  passing  to-day  to  consider  in  their  order  the 
cardinal  facts  in  our  Lord's  ministry,  as  enumerated 
in  St.  Peter's  address  to  Cornelius  and  in  the  Creed 
of  the  Church.  But  we  must  needs  commence  by 
observing  that,  from  the  point  of  view  we  have 
gained,  we  are  enabled,  or  rather  compelled,  to  put 
aside  at  once  the  principal  speculations  of  late  years 
respecting  our  Lord's  method  and  purpose.  For  all 
those  speculations  proceed  on  the  re-arrangement, 
according  to  the  views  of  the  particular  writer,  of  the 
records  of  the  Gospels;  one  part  being  taken  out 
and  another  left,  and  the  whole  being  readjusted  to 
meet  the  author's  comprehension  of  the  case.  One 
writer  proposes  to  discuss  our  Lord's  object  and 
scheme  without  reference  to  His  theology,  as  though 
the  deepest  and  most  characteristic  of  His  motives 
could  possibly  be  excluded  from  His  work.  Another 
endeavours  to  exclude  His  miracles  altogether  from 
consideration,  and  a  third  resolves  them  into  a  half- 
conscious,  half-unconscious  illusion.  M.  Eenan, 
who,  as  we  have  seen,  accepts  the  four  Gospels  as 
'  serious  documents,'  providing  for  us,  to  a  great 
extent,  the  evidence  of  eye-witnesses,  nevertheless 
constructs  a  story  of  our  Lord's  life  in  flagrant 
contradiction  with  the  main  order  of  events  as 


OF   OUR   LORD  49 

uniformly  narrated  by  these  witnesses.  The  Gospels 
place  the  commencement  of  our  Lord's  ministry 
at  His  baptism  by  John,  and  exhibit  Him  from 
that  time  forward  as  preaching  the  Gospel  of  the 
Kingdom,  and  working  miracles  in  accordance  with 
it.  But  M.  Kenan  imagines  out  of  his  own  mind  a 
kind  of  idyllic  period  in  Galilee  before  our  Lord's 
communication  with  John,  during  which  He  was 
wholly  occupied  with  what  that  writer  is  pleased  to 
consider  the  purely  moral  instruction  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount.  It  seems  enough  to  say  that  any 
method  which  deals  in  this  arbitrary  manner  with 
the  unanimous  testimony  of  serious  witnesses  is  self- 
condemned. 

It  must  be  added  that  there  is  a  presumption 
very  difficult  to  comprehend  in  the  tone  of  mind 
which  assumes  a  capacity  for  sitting  in  judgment, 
as  it  were,  on  the  work  of  our  Lord,  and  measuring 
His  aims  by  its  own  standard.  On  any  supposition, 
His  moral  and  spiritual  power  has  been,  and  still 
remains,  superior  to  the  conceptions  and  ideals  of 
all  other  men.  It  is  only  reasonable  to  suppose, 
therefore,  that  it  must  in  numerous  points  be 
wholly  above  and  beyond  our  comprehension.  So 
far  as  we  have  definite  statements  preserved  to  us*, 
such  as  we  believe  we  possess  in  the  Gospel?,  we 
may  hope  in  some  measure  to  apprehend  it.  But 
if  we  cannot  trust  the  order  of  their  narration,  wo 

E 


50  THE   BIRTH 

are  simply  in  presence  of  a  mysterious  manifestation 
of  superhuman  wisdom,  goodness,  and  power,  which 
•\ve  cannot  hope  to  explain.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  every  writer  on  this  subject  who 
departs  from  the  records  of  the  Gospel  and  the 
faith  of  the  Church,  develops  some  new  scheme 
inconsistent  with  those  of  his  predecessors.  The 
Church  alone  has  been  consistent  from  the  first  in 
its  acceptance,  and  in  its  general  interpretation,  of 
the  story  in  the  Gospels ;  and  the  fact  that  this 
uniform  impression  should  have  been  produced  by 
the  four  Gospels  upon  all  who  have  submitted 
themselves  simply  to  their  instruction,  must  alone 
raise  a  great  presumption  in  favour  of  its  harmony 
with  the  real  truth  of  the  case. 

Now  these  are  the  considerations  from  which  we 
have  to  start  in  considering  the  credibility  of  such 
a  passage  in  the  Gospel  history  as  that  of  the 
miraculous  birth  of  our  Lord,  with  the  angelic 
messages  which  accompanied  it.  The  information 
could  of  course  only  be  derived  from  one  source, 
namely,  from  the  Mother  of  our  Lord  herself;  and 
as  to  the  possibility  of  Apostles  and  Apostolic 
men  receiving  this  information,  it  is  enough  to 
know  that,  after  the  Ascension  as  St.  Luke  states, 
the  Apostles  '  continued  with  one  accord  in 
prayer  and  supplication,  with  the  women,  and  Mary 
the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  His  brethren.'  We 


OF    OUR   LORD  51 

know   nothing   of  Mary's  life   after  this;   but  our 
Lord  on  the  Cross  commended  her  to  the  care  of 
St.  John,  and  the  solemn  charge  was  doubtless  ful- 
filled.    It  follows,  therefore,  that  for  a  whole  gene- 
ration after  the  compilation  of  the  first  three  Gospels 
— according  to  the  admissions  already  quoted — that 
very  Apostle  was  still  living  who  was  better  able 
than  any  other  man  to  know  whether  the  accounts 
of  our  Lord's  birth  given  by  St.  Luke  and  St.  Mat- 
thew were  in  accord  with  Mary's  testimony.    The 
objectors  to   the   truth   of  the   record   have   most 
strangely  laid  stress  on  the  fact  that  the  narrative 
is  not  repeated  by  St.  John.     This  is  but  an  extreme 
instance  of  a  most   unreasonable   assumption  con- 
stantly employed  by  rationalistic   critics — namely, 
that  because  an  Evangelist  does  not  mention  some 
important  fact,  he  was  ignorant  of  it,  or  disbelieved  it. 
In  this  case  St.  John,  by  the  supposition,  was  writing 
at  least  thirty  years  after  the  narrative  had  been 
placed   on   record   by  St.  Matthew  and   St.  Luke. 
His  Gospel  is  throughout,  to  a  large  extent,  sup- 
plementary to  theirs,  omitting  many  things  which 
they  had  reported,  and  adding  many  which  they 
did  not   report.     In  accordance   with   this  general 
characteristic,    it    is    perfectly    natural     that    he 
should   not   mention  occurrences  which  were  suffi- 
ciently narrated  already,  and  were  accepted  by  the 
whole.  Christian  Church    of    his  day.      The   really 

E  2 


52  THE    BIRTH 

significant  fact  is  that,  knowing,  as  it  is  admitted 
he  must  have  known,  that  such  a  narrative  was  in 
circulation,  he  says  not  one  word  to  deprecate  belief 
in  it;  but,  on  the  contrary,  insists  on  the  central 
truth  of  which  it  was  the  outward  form  and  expres- 
sion— that  'the  Word  was  made  flesh.'  Mary 
herself  comes  before  us,  throughout  the  New  Testa- 
ment narrative,  as  a  singularly  quiet,  thoughtful, 
humble,  retiring  figure,  pondering  things  in  her 
heart  and  silently  treasuring  them,  free  from  all 
excitement  and  eagerness.  John  is  the  very  Apostle 
— if  a  distinction  may  be  made  between  them — of 
light  and  truth :  his  message  was,  that  God  is 
light,  and  in  Him  is  no  darkness  at  all ;  and  that 
if  we  walk  in  the  light,  as  He  is  in  the  light,  we  have 
fellowship  one  with  another.  It  is  impossible  to 
suppose  that  anything  approaching  to  a  pious  frau  1 
would  have  found  countenance  from  two  such  simple 
natures;  and  we  seem  therefore  to  possess,  on  the 
critical  suppositions  already  assumed,  a  singularly 
direct  personal  testimony  to  the  truth  of  the  narra- 
tives in  question. 

In  the  time  available  for  these  Lectures,  it  would 
be  impracticable  to  enter  into  all  the  difficulties 
which  have  been  raised  respecting  details  in  the  two 
narratives  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke.  I  shall 
venture  to  say  summarily,  that  the  historical  diffi- 
culties connected  with  such  matters  as  the  Census 


OF   OUR    LORD  53 

of    Cyrenius    have    been    more    than    sufficiently 
met,    an'i    to    refer    for    that    part    of    the    argu- 
ment  to  the  'Speaker's  Commentary.'     I   do  not 
say   that  in    every   detail    the  variations    in  the 
accounts   have   been    completely   harmonized.     In 
some  few  points  there  is  room  for  a  difference  of 
opinion  respecting  the  true  explanation.     But  it  is 
quite   unreasonable   to   expect   that  in   such  brief 
narratives  the  sequence  of  events  should  always  be 
•  perspicuous ;    and  it  may  be .  added,  as  a  general 
principle,  that  while  the  Evangelists  are  always  in 
harmony  in  the  main  points  of  any  narrative,  there 
are  slight  differences  between   them,  which   prove 
that  their  narrations  were  in  great  measure  inde- 
pendent ;  that  their  records,  in  fact,  are  marked  by 
the  same  minor  variations  which  are  generally  to 
be  observed  in  accounts  of  the  same  event  given 
by    independent    witnesses — variations    which,    in 
other  matters,  are  always  held  to  be  an  additional 
guarantee  of  trustworthiness,  so  long  as  they  stop 
short   of  being   contradictions.     The   title  on   the 
Cross  is  a  familiar  instance  of  this  variation  ;  but  an 
example  perhaps  still  more  instructive  may  be  found 
in  the  narrative  of  the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand, 
contained  in  the  14th  chapter  of  St.  Matthew,  the 
6th  of  St.  Mark,   the  9th  of  St.   Luke,  and   the 
Oth  of  St.  John.     This  is  the  only  miracle  of  which 
an  account  is  preserved  to  us  by  all  four  Evangelists ; 


54  THE    BIRTH 

and  a  comparison  of  the  narratives  will  show  that, 
while  perfectly  consistent  in  the  essential  facts, 
there  are  details  peculiar  to  each.  For  example, 
in  the  first  three  Gospels,  our  Lord  says  to  His 
disciples  in  general,  '  Give  ye  them  to  eat ; '  while 
in  St.  John  He  addresses  an  enquiry  especially  to 
Philip:  'Whence  shall  we  buy  bread  that  these 
may  eat?'  But  notwithstanding  this,  the  main 
facts  of  the  story  are  narrated  by  the  four  Evan- 
gelists in  almost  the  same  words. 

While,  however,  thus  deprecating  the  demand  for 
an  absolutely  identical  narrative,  it  may  be  well 
to  observe  that  there  is  no  point  in  the  Gospel 
history  on  which  the  narratives  are  more  com- 
pletely harmonious  in  respect  to  the  essential 
facts  of  the  case  than  in  regard  to  our  Lord's  birth. 
Thus,  it  may  seem,  at  first  sight,  a  formidable 
objection  against  the  occurrence  of  the  marvellous 
events  attending  the  Saviour's  birth,  that  they 
seem  to  have  been  unknown  at  Nazareth;  that  in 
the  subsequent  history  there  is  no  indication  that 
the  neighbours  of  Joseph  and  Mary  were  at  all 
aware  of  there  having  been  anything  unusual  in 
the  time  and  other  circumstances  of  their  Child's 
birth  ;  and  again,  that  the  visit  of  the  wise  men  and 
the  incidents  connected  with  it  seem  to  have  been 
so  entirely  forgotten.  Now,  if  the  birth  had  occurred 
at  Nazareth,  and  if  no  break  had  interrupted  the 


OP   OUR   LOED  55 

course  of  the  life  of  Joseph  and  Mary  and  of  our 
Lord,  between  the  time  when  all  Jerusalem  was 
disturbed  at  the  reported  birth  of  a  king  of  the 
Jews,  and  the  days  when  our  Lord  began  to  be 
about  thirty  years  of  age,  '  being,  as  was  supposed, 
the  son  of  Joseph,' these  objections  might  have  some 
weight.  But,  in  point  of  fact,  St.  Matthew  tells  us 
of  events  which  afford  a  perfectly  simple  and  natural 
explanation  of  everything.  We  are  told  that  our  Lord 
was  born,  not  at  Nazareth,  but  at  Bethlehem ;  and 
that  after  His  birth,  before  the  return  of  His  parents 
to  the  former  city,  there  intervened  the  slaughter 
of  the  children  at  Bethlehem,  and  the  flight  into 
Egypt.  There  did  thus  exist  the  very  break  which 
is  requisite  to  explain  the  ignorance  of  the  people 
of  Nazareth  respecting  the  circumstances  in 
question. 

In  all  other  respects,  the  alleged  supernatural 
birth  must  be  admitted  to  be  at  least  in  harmony 
with  other  unquestioned  facts.  It  seemed  fairer 
and  more  simple,  for  the  purpose  of  these  Lectures, 
to  treat  first  the  subject  which  presented  itself 
earliest  in  chronological  order,  and  in  the  recital 
of  the  Creed.  But  wre  should  have  been  pursuing 
a  course  in  some  respects  more  natural  in  itself, 
and  more  in  harmony  with  our  Lord's  own  method, 
if  we  had  deferred  the  consideration  of  this  subject 
until  we  were  prepared  to  estimate  its  probability 


56  THE    BIRTH 

iti  the  light  thrown   upon   it   by  our   Lord's  sub- 
sequent life  and  work.     It   has   often   been  asked 
Avhy,  if  our  Lord  could  have  referred  to  this  super- 
natural  origin,   if   His  mother   could   have   borne 
witness  to  it,  if  He  were  really  the   Son  of  David 
born  under  miraculous  circumstances  at  Bethlehem, 
He   should   have  allowed,  as  He  more  than  once 
did   in   the   course    of    the   history,   objections   to 
remain  unanswered,  which  would  at  once  have  been 
removed  by  an  establishment  of  these  facts  ?     The 
answer  may   well    be  that    the   facts,  from   their 
essentially   private   and    delicate   character,   could 
never  have  been  established  to  the  satisfaction  of 
persons  who  were  not  predisposed  to  believe  them 
by  the  conviction,  based  on  other  grounds,  of  our 
Lord's  divine,  or  at  least  superhuman,  character.  The 
calumnies  afterwards  circulated  on  the  subject  are 
alone  sufficient  justification  of  the  reticence  which 
our  Lord  observed  on  this  subject  in  the  presence  of 
hostile  or  unbelieving  crowds.     On  such  a  topic  the 
principle  is  eminently  applicable  :  '  If  they  believe 
not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will  they  be 
persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead.'     If  men 
rejected  His  moral  and  spiritual  claims,  He  refused 
to  show  them  signs  from  heaven ;    and  still  more 
sacred  considerations  must  have  debarred  Him  from 
appealing  to  His  mother  to  answer  their  cavils. 
Similar  reasons  may  account  for  the  absence  of  the 


OF   OUR    LORD  57 

narrative  from  St.  Mark,  if  that  be,  as  there  is  good 
reason  to  think,  the  earliest  Gospel.  At  all  events, 
it  would  be  natural  that  the  miraculous  birth  of  our 
Lord  should  not  be  put  in  the  fore-front  of  the  first 
proclamation  of  the  Gospel.  It  would  most  fitly  be 
taught,  as  it  is  narrated  by  St.  Luke,  to  those  who 
were  already  believers,  '  that  they  might  know  the 
certainty  of  those  things  wherein  they  had  been  in- 
structed,' but  it  would  be  protected  by  reserve  from 
the  misapprehensions  of  unbelievers.  To  a  great 
extent,  the  case  is  the  same  in  the  present  day.  The 
full  force  of  the  reasons  for  accepting  the  narratives 
of  our  Lord's  birth  can  only  be  perceived  by  arguing 
back  from  the  resurrection.  It  at  least  seems 
a  conclusive  answer  to  objections  on  the  mere  score 
of  the  miraculous  character  of  the  birth,  to  say 
that  if  our  Lord  was  not  like  other  men  in  His 
death,  it  is  probable,  rather  than  otherwise,  that 
He  was  unlike  them  in  the  commencement  of  His 
life.  But  without  assuming  this  point,  it  may  be 
sufficient  to  call  attention  to  another  considera- 
tion. It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  His 
character,  at  all  events,  our  Lord  so  surpassed  all 
other  men  who  have  ever  appeared  on  earth  as  to 
be  distinguished  from  them,  not  only  in  degree, 
but  in  His  very  nature.  There  is  something 
absolutely  unique  in  His  whole  character,  and  if 
this  fact  be  unquestionable,  what  more  natural 


58 


THE    BIRTH 


than  that  there  should  be  something  unique  in  His 
origin  ? 

There  is  perhaps  no  point  of  our  Christian  Creed 
on  which  it  is  more  important  to  dwell  at  the 
present  day.  It  is  indeed  the  primary  truth  of  that 
Creed  at  all  times,  but  there  are  circumstances 
characteristic  of  our  own  day  which  give  it  an  ex- 
ceptional prominence.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  principle  on 
which  the  Gospel  is  most  directly  at  issue  with  the 
ideas  which  have  been  acquiring  increasing  in- 
fluence throughout  this  century.  In  different  ways, 
both  at  home  and  abroad,  the  minds  of  men  have 
become  penetrated  with  the  conception  of  develop- 
ment or  of  evolution,  until  it  has  become  peculiarly 
unwelcome  to  them  to  accept  in  any  form  the 
notion  of  a  break,  or  a  new  commencement, 
in  human  life,  whether  in  the  past,  or  in  the 
present.  The  history  of  this  growth  of  thought 
reaches  back  to  the  beginning  of  the  century,  to  the 
German  philosophy  which  then  became  prominent — 
that  of  Hegel;  and  the  doctrine  of  physical  evo- 
lution, which  has  of  late  years  attracted  such 
adherence  among  ourselves,  is  but  one  application 
of  this  idea.  It  was  applied  in  Germany  to  human 
nature,  before  it  was  worked  out  in  reference  to 
physical  nature  in  this  country,  and  its  disastrous 
consequences  have  been  felt  in  numerous  directions 
throughout  the  whole  field  of  theology  and  criti- 


OF   OUR   LORD  59 

cisni.  Its  cardinal  principle  is  that  all  history 
is  but  the  development  of  ideas  and  tendencies 
inherent  in  human  nature — human  nature  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  a  nature  not  influenced 
nor  disturbed  in  ils  regular  evolution  by  any  alien 
or  supernatural  forces.  Whatever  manifestation 
of  human  thought  or  belief  is  recorded  in  history 
must  be  traced,  according  to  this  philosophy,  to 
antecedents  in  human  nature  itself,  to  causes  which 
we  can  discover  and  follow  out,  just  as  we  can 
trace  all  physical  effects  to  physical  causes.  Christi- 
anity therefore  must  be  accounted  for  by  the  natural 
working  of  the  influences  which  had  preceded  it. 
There  must  be  evidence  that  it  was  produced  by 
the  natural  development  of  religious  impulses  which 
had  been  maturing  among  the  Jews,  combined  after 
a  while  with  similar  influences  of  Greek  philosophy 
and  Koman  life.  The  Origins  of  Christianity — to 
use  the  phrase  which  the  eminent  French  sceptic  has 
adopted  and  made  familiar — must  thus  be  perceptible 
in  the  ordinary  workings  of  the  human  heart,  amidst 
the  circumstances  by  which  men  were  surrounded 
in  the  first  century,  just  as  the  rise  of  Buddhism 
and  Mahometanism  can  be  explained  by  a  know- 
ledge of  the  social  and  religious  conditions  of  the 
people  among  whom  they  were  first  proclaimed. 

But   it  soon  became  obvious   that  this  was   not 
sufficient.     If  Christianity  was  thus  to  be  explained 


60  THE    BIRTH 

as  a  mere  natural  development,  the  product  of  the 
influences  of  its  day,  a  further  step,  however 
momentous,  was  inevitable.  Christ  Himself  must 
be  thus  explained.  If  He  was  a  supernatural 
Being,  bringing  a  new  creative  force  into  the 
world,  the  whole  of  this  theory  of  the  Origins  of 
Christianity  fell  to  the  ground ;  and  accordingly 
those  who  applied  this  philosophy  in  Germany 
were  in  a  very  short  time  driven  by  their  principles 
to  the  most  desperate  efforts  to  explain  the  whole 
Gospel  history  on  natural  grounds  and  by  natural 
causes.  The  very  idea  of  miracles  was  antagonistic 
to  the  central  thought  of  such  a  philosophy,  and  the 
miraculous  occurrences  narrated  in  the  Gospels  had 
thus  by  some  means  to  be  explained  away.  Above 
all  was  this  the  case  with  the  primary  miracle,  that 
of  the  Incarnation.  Men  disguised  the  momentous 
conclusion  from  themselves  for  a  while ;  but  there 
was  no  escape  from  it,  and  the  Germans,  with  their 
characteristic  audacity,  faced  it  fifty  years  ago.  All 
ordinary  rationalistic  explanations  failed,  one  after 
another ;  and  at  last  Strauss,  the  boldest  of  the  German 
critics,  declared  the  whole  Gospel  History  to  be 
mythical,  and  the  mere  embodiment  in  the  form  of 
myths  of  the  ideas  of  the  age.  This  was  carried 
one  step  further,  and  a  similar  attack  was  made  on 
the  Apostolic  Histories  by  Baur  and  his  followers. 
Thus  one  of  the  leading  authorities  of  our  day  on 


OF   OUR   LORD  61 

philosophical  questions  in  Germany,  originally  a 
di:«eiple  of  Hegel,  says  that '  the  Hegelian  philosophy 
was  not  only  in  harmony  with  Baur's  interpretation 
of  history,  but  exerted  an  influence  on  it  through 
the  idea  of  the  development  of  humanity,  as  deter- 
mined by  an  inner  necessity,  proceeding  by  an 
immanent  dialectic,  and  manifesting  in  accordance 
with  a  fixed  law  all  the  elements  which  are  included 
in  the  nature  of  Spirit.'  * 

This,  it  cannot  be  too  clearly  boine  in  mind,  is 
the  key  to  the  whole  critical  assault  of  this  century 
on  the  authority  and  credibility  of  the  Scripture 
History,  whether  of  the  Old  or  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. It  has  not,  in  any  instance,  been  prompted 
by  an  impartial  and  independent  study  of  the  facts 
for  themselves.  The  critical  difficulties  did  not 
make  the  philosophy.  The  philosophy  has  made 
the  critical  difficulties.  Men  have  allowed  their 
minds,  in  the  Apostle's  language,  to  be  made  spoil 
of  by  a  vain  philosophy,  which  assumed  that  no  in- 
fluence had  ever  operated  on  human  nature  above 
human  nature  itself;  and  then,  when  they  were  con- 
fronted with  the  momentous  facts  of  the  Christian 
Creed  and  the  Christian  Scriptures,  they  set  them- 
selves with  desperate  efforts  to  expla;n  away  their 
credibility,  to  transform  th«  ir  records,  and  to  find 

*  Quoted  in  Ueberweg's  '  00-  i  ed.,  Bulin,  1880;  part  iii.  j». 
flii'-htn  <lr  Philosophies  5th  '  3G:>. 


62  THE    BIRTH 

excuses  of  whatever  kind  for  evading  their  evidence. 
After  being  applied  to  the  Gospel  History  and  the 
Apostolic  records,  an  attempt  is  now  being  made  to 
apply  this  philosophy  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  to 
represent  the  faith  of  the  Jews,  not  as  the  result 
of  a  supernatural  education  by  the  miraculous  inter- 
position of  God,  but  as  the  mere  natural  development 
of  Semitic  tendencies.  The  attempt  has  failed  with 
respect  to  the  New  Testament,  and  has  resulted  in 
the  critical  defeat  of  each  successive  school  in 
Germany ;  and  a  similar  defeat  may  safely  be  pre- 
dicted for  this  new  application  of  the  philosophy 
of  the  century. 

It  was,  however,  it  will  be  seen,  a  true  instinct 
which  urged  those  who  were  possessed  by  these 
views  to  make  so  determined  an  assault  on  the 
great  facts  and  records  of  the  Gospel;  for  those 
facts  establish  in  the  sphere  of  human  history 
and  human  life  a  truth  which  is  in  diametrical  anta- 
gonism with  any  such  conception  of  human  develop- 
ment. Certainly,  a  place  is  found  in  the  revelation 
of  the  Gospel  and  in  tlie  Christian  Creed  for  the 
facts  of  life  which  are  exaggerated  in  this  philo- 
sophy. The  Scripture  fully  recognizes  and  teaches 
that  there  has  been  a  development  in  human  affairs, 
a  gradual  evolution,  if  any  one  prefers  to  use  the 
word,  of  moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  life.  Our 
Saviour  is  declared  to  have  come  in  the  fulness  of 


OF   OUR    LORD  63 

time,  when  the  Divine  education  of  Jew  and  Greek 
alike  had  been  brought  to  the  point  at  which  they 
were  fitted  to  receive  a  new  revelation,  and  to  be 
subject  to  a  new  creative  influence.  The  long 
centuries  of  Jewish  and  heathen  history  had  been 
working,  under  the  Divine  hand,  towards  that 
critical  moment,  and  the  ground  had  been  laboriously 
prepared  to  receive  the  seed.  But  allowing  for 
this,  that  which  the  Scriptures  declare  is  that  there 
was  in  fact,  a  seed — that  a  new  germ  of  life  was  sown 
in  the  field  of  human  nature,  and  that  when  the  ful- 

of  time  was  come,  God  sent  forth  His  Son  to  be 
tli'-  source  of  a  new  creation.  The  creative  process 
was  similar  to  that  which  is  described  in  the 
book  of  Genesis.  God  formed  man  of  the  dust  of 
the  ground,  and  breathed  into  his  nostrils  the  breath 
of  life,  and  man  became  a  living  soul.  It  may  be, 
for  all  that  directly  concerns  the  Christian  faith, 
that  the  dust  of  the  ground  has  been  gradually 

i-ipi'd  through  successive  forms  of  animal  life, 
until  a  frame  has  been  evolved  capable  of  becoming 
th(i  instrument  of  the  human  spirit;  but  the  frame 
did  not  evolve  that  spirit.  It  was  necessary  for  God 
t"  lnvathe  into  it  the  breath  of  life  by  a  new  creative 
act.  It  will  be  understood  that  I  am  not  here 

ring  on  the  general  question  of  the  truth  of  the 

,:iar  dnctrine  of  evolution  as  applied  to  physical 
nature.  Such  considerations  asha\e  passed  before  us 


54  THE    BIRTH 

may,  indeed,  well  raise  a  presumption  in  our  minds 
on  that  subject.  But  all  we  are  now  concerned  to 
observe  is  that  human  nature  is  exempted  from  that 
principle  in  the  experiences,  the  history,  the  hopes, 
which  are  the  most  precious  to  it.  The  Gospel,  in  its 
proclamation  of  the  Incarnation  of  our  Lord,  in  the 
history  of  His  ministry,  and  in  its  application  to 
oureelves,  reveals  a  principle  entirely  independent  of 
natural  human  development.  A  new  creation  arises 
when  our  Lord  was  born.  A  second  Adam,  the  Lord 
from  heaven,  descended  into  the  midst  of  the  old 
creation, and  began  to  regenerate  it  by  a  new  spiritual 
and  Divine  influence.  A  spiritual  and  real  regene- 
ration commenced  ;  human  souls  were  privileged  to 
be  born  again,  '  not  of  corruptible  seed  but  of  incor- 
ruptible, by  the  word  of  God  which  liveth  and 
abideth  for  ever.'  The  Christian  church  is  not  a 
product  of  human  nature  ;  it  is  the  construction  of 
the  Spirit  of  God,  working  upon  human  nature  from 
above,  and  renewing  it  after  the  image  of  the  Creator. 
These  are  the  momentous  and  precious  realities 
which  are  indissolubly  bound  up  with  the  mysterious 
truth  of  our  Lord's  Incarnation. 

As  has  just  been  implied,  they  are  not  less 
momentous  to  our  own  spiritual  life  than  to  our 
view  of  the  great  truths  of  the  Christian  Creed. 
The  general  tendency  of  which  I  have  spoken  is 
liable  to  exert  a  very  dangerous  influence  over  our 


OF   OUR   LOED  05 

personal  life.  It  tends  of  necessity  to  obscure  to 
our  minds  the  blessed  truth  of  our  being  ourselves 
the  subjects  of  this  regenerating  and  transforming 
influence — capable,  as  St.  Paul  says,  of  being  '  re- 
newed in  the  spirit  of  our  mind '  (Eph.  iv.  23).  One  of 
the  most  important  of  all  the  questions  we  can  put 
to  ourselves  respecting  our  own  moral  and  spiritual 
life  is,  whether  we,  in  our  own  souls,  are  the  mere 
subjects  of  a  process  of  development  and  evolution. 
Arc  we  intended  to  be,  do  we  allow  ourselves  to 
be,  the  mere  product  of  the  various  forces,  good  or 
bud,  which  are  brought  to  bear  upon  us  in  the  visible 
world  of  our  fellows,  whether  by  our  family  associa- 
tions or  by  our  age,  and  are  we  conformed  to  this 
world  around  us  ?  or  do  we  recognize  that  we  have 
within  us  a  divine  spiritual  power,  by  means  of  which 
\\e  may  be  'transformed  by  the  renewing  of  our 
mind '  ?  Here  again,  as  in  the  larger  view  of  the 
subject,  there  is  ample  scope  for  the  legitimate 
recognition  of  the  natural  education  to  which  we  are 
subjected  by  the  circumstances  amidst  which  we  live. 
The  growth  of  each  individual  soul  is  governed 
by  the  hand  of  God  in  a  similar  manner  to 
that  in  which  He  guided  the  education  of  the 
world  before  our  Lord  came.  The  circumstances 
of  our  lives,  the  various  influences  which  His 
providence  has  brought  to  bear  upon  us,  are  all 
directed  to  plough  and  prepare  the  soil  of  our 

F 


66  THE   BIRTH 

hearts  for  His  word  to  take  root  in  us ;  and  it 
behoves  us  to  cherish  with  the  utmost  care  every 
gracious  providence  of  this  kind.  The  Gospel,  in 
proclaiming  the  presence  and  operation  of  miracu- 
lous influences,  never  disregards  or  disparages  those 
which  are  natural.  Every  miracle  is  practically  accom- 
panied by  the  command,  '  Gather  up  the  fragments, 
that  nothing  be  lost.'  No  man  is  justified  in  depend- 
ing on  divine  aid  if  he  neglects  those  fragments  of 
opportunity,  aiforded  him  by  the  natural  providence 
of  God.  But  none  the  less  it  is  our  supreme  bless- 
ing to  be  assured  that  we  are  not  dependent  solely 
on  such  natural  influences,  and  on  our  natural 
power  to  turn  them  to  account.  The  Spirit  of  God 
is  bestowed  upon  us,  to  regenerate  our  weak  and  cor- 
rupt natures,  to  give  to  our  own  efforts  a  power  they 
could  not  have  exerted  of  themselves,  and  gradually 
to  create  us  afresh  in  the  image  of  the  Saviour. 

Nothing  less  could  be  an  adequate  satisfaction 
to  any  human  spirit  which  is  conscious  of  its  in- 
tense imperfection  and  corruption.  Which  of  us 
could  bear  to  look  forward  to  an  eternity  in  which 
we  should  be  surrounded  by  our  present  infirmities  ? 
Or  who  that  has  struggled  with  earnestness  against 
his  besetting  sins  but  must  feel  his  need  of  some 
regenerating  grace  ?  The  promise  of  such  grace  is 
our  great  blessing  for  the  present,  and  our  supreme 
hope  for  the  future.  It  is  the  privilege  of  the 


OF   OUR  LORD  07 

Christian  that,  in  proportion  to  his  faithful  efforts  and 
prayers,  a  new  man  is  gradually  formed  within  him, 
which  brings  his  old  nature  into  ever  increasing  sub- 
jection, and  which  will  hereafter  completely  trans- 
form him.  To  this  hope  he  looks  forward  amidst  the 
decay  of  his  natural  frame.  '  If  our  earthly  house 
of  this  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  building 
of  God,  an  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the 
heavens.'  The  Saviour's  supernatural  birth,  no  less 
than  His  resurrection,  is  a  pledge  to  him  of  this 
possibility  ;  and  thus  he  is  taught  by  the  Church  to 
pray  :  '  Almighty  God,  who  hast  given  us  Thy  only 
begotten  Son  to  take  our  nature  upon  him,  and  to 
be  bora  of  a  pure  Virgin  ;  Grant  that  we  being 
regenerate,  and  made  Thy  children  by  adoption  and 
grace,  may  daily  be  renewed  by  Thy  Holy  Spirit  ; 
through  the  same  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.' 


F  'J 


LECTURE    IV 


THE    NAME    OF    JESUS 

"  Thou  shalt  call  His  name  JESUS,  for  He  shall  save  His  people  from 
their  sins." — Matt.  i.  21. 

THESE  words  seem  to  embody  the  very  substance 
of  the  work  and  office  of  our  Lord,  as  it  appeared  to 
the  eye  of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven.  Angels  were 
His  heralds  when  He  came  into  the  world,  and  on 
each  occasion  when  these  voices  from  heaven  were 
heard,  they  were  directed  to  this  one  point.  When 
the  angel  Gabriel  appeared  to  Mary,  he  said,  '  Thou 
shalt  bring  forth  a  son,  and  shalt  call  His  name 
Jesus.'  When  the  angel  appeared  to  Joseph,  he 
announced  the  same  name,  and  gave  the  assurance 
of  the  text;  and  after  our  Lord's  birth,  when  the 
angels  appeared  to  the  shepherds,  and  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  shone  round  about  them,  the  celestial 
proclamation  was,  '  Fear  not :  for,  behold,  I  bring 
you  good  tidings  of  great  joy,  which  shall  be  to  all 
people.  For  unto  you  is  born  this  day,  in  the  city  of 
David,  a  Saviour,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.'  To 
the  wondering  gaze  of  heaven,  the  one  grand  fact 


THE  NAME    OF   JESUS  69 

to  be  realized,  in  the  event  they  were  announcing 
and  celebrating,  was  that  a  Saviour  had  come  into 
the  world,  one  so  called  because  He  should  save  His 
people  from  their  sins.  This  thought  overpowers 
all  others,  and  sums  up  in  itself  the  whole  glorious 
announcement  which  Heaven  desired  to  proclaim  to 
earth. 

We  may  therefore  meditate  upon  this  text  as 
one  which  conveys  the  whole  message  of  the  Gospel. 
We  have  in  our  Bibles  the  Gospel  according  to 
St.  Matthew,  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  Mark,  the 
Gospel  according  to  St.  Luke,  and  the  Gospel 
according  to  St.  John  ;  that  is  to  say,  we  have  the 
one  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  expressed  in  the  four 
various  forms  in  which  those  Evangelists  delivered 
it.  Similarly,  the  message  of  the  text  may  be 
regarded  as  the  Gospel,  and  the  whole  Gospel, 
according  to  those  angelic  messengers  who  were 
commissioned  to  announce  it  to  earth.  We  may  be 
sure,  therefore,  that  these  short  and  simple  words 
express  the  cardinal  truth  of  the  Christian  dispen- 
sation, and  that  we  ought  to  make  them  the  centre 
of  our  whole  view  of  life,  and  of  the  revelation 
vouchsafed  to  us  in  the  Gospel.  At  a  time  like  the 
present,  when  the  busy  and  anxious  speculations  of 
the  day  are  discussing  the  problems  of  life  and  of 
Christianity  from  such  varying  points  of  view,  and 
when  such  ever-shifting  solutions  of  those  problems 


70  THE   NAME 

are  offered  to  us,  it  is  more  than  ever  desirable  that 
we  should  concentrate  our  thoughts  on  the  truth 
thus  unmistakably  pointed  out  to  us  as  the  key  to 
the  whole  mystery.  Heaven  surveys  with,  clear 
and  serene  vision  this  confused  and  struggling 
scene,  and  its  voice  strikes  home,  in  a  single  sen- 
tence, to  the  heart  of  the  great  drama  of  life. 
If  we  are  to  appreciate  the  moral  probability  and 
verisimilitude  of  the  records  in  the  four  Gospels,  it 
is  necessary  for  us  to  realize  the  facts  of  human 
nature  as  they  are  presented  by  the  sacred  writers  ; 
and  a  due  apprehension  of  the  significance  of  the 
name  of  '  Jesus '  is  thus  essential  to  any  argument 
in  defence  or  elucidation  of  the  Gospels. 

Consider,  then,  in  the  first  place,  what  was  the 
one  great  fact  in  the  actual  condition  of  mankind 
on  which  the  eye  of  Heaven  was  fixed.  It  was  that 
men  need  salvation,  and  that  that  from  which  they 
need  to  be  saved  is  from  their  sins.  The  whole  sum 
and  substance  of  human  needs,  all  that  men  crave 
to  be  delivered  from,  is  thus  represented  to  us  as 
involved  in  the  one  word,  sin.  All  else  is  passed 
over.  Even  the  consequences  of  sin  are  not  specifi- 
cally mentioned,  as  though  the  consideration  of 
them  were  subordinate  to  our  apprehension  of  the 
main  purpose  of  the  Divine  salvation  which  is 
announced.  Sin,  and  sin  alone,  is  what  men  need 
to  be  delivered  from. 


OF   JESUS  71 

Let  us  ask  ourselves  how  far  our  minds  are 
in  harmony  with  this  conception  of  our  condition. 
It  is  a  conception  which  it  proved  impossible  to 
bring  home  to  the  mass  of  men  at  the  time  of 
our  Lord;  and  among  ourselves,  even  when  it  is 
nominally  admitted,  there  is  reason  to  fear  it  is 
still  most  imperfectly  apprehended.  Men  in  our 
own  day  look  around  the  world  as  the  Jews  did,  and 
are  sensible  of  the  sufferings,  the  oppressions,  the 
injustices,  the  confusions,  which  meet  their  view, 
and  they  crave  and  yearn,  as  they  have  ever  done, 
for  some  salvation  for  themselves  and  their  fellows. 
Just  as  the  Jews  were  craving  for  some  Messiah  to 
arise,  and  deliver  them  from  the  hand  of  their 
enemies,  by  some  sudden  stroke  of  force  or  policy, 
so  if  we  cast  our  eye  over  the  Christian  world  at 
this  time,  we  behold  a  very  similar  spectacle.  We 
see  men's  attention  occupied  and  distracted  by  con- 
flicting social,  political,  and  philosophical  schemes — 
one  philosophy  after  another,  one  political  dream 
after  another,  absorbing  their  interests,  and  holding 
out  to  them,  as  they  fondly  believe,  the  promise  of 
a  li.-tter  future.  Some  of  these  philosophical  and 
social  schemes  may  have  their  place  and  function  in 
the  development  of  thought  and  of  society ;  and  so 
far  as  they  can  be  kept  in  their  place,  they  are  not 
to  be  disparaged.  But  they  are  all  imperfect,  when 
considered  from  the  point  of  view  on  which  the  text 


72  THE   NAME 

insists.  They  fail  to  recognize  that  the  essential 
weakness  of  human  nature  lies  where  it  is  indicated 
by  the  angelic  message.  They  all  begin  with  some- 
thing else  besides  men's  sins,  with  some  circum- 
stances more  or  less  external  to  the  secret  life  of  their 
moral  nature — it  may  be  with  their  political  or  social 
condition,  or  even  with  their  physical  constitution. 
They  do  not  recognize,  like  the  Gospel,  and  like  the 
Bible  from  first  to  last,  that  moral  evil  is  the  one 
central  source  of  all  evil,  and  that  towards  over- 
coming this  the  main  efforts  of  a  Saviour  of  mankind 
ought  to  be  concentrated. 

We  may  appreciate  this  the  more  clearly  if  we 
briefly  call  to  mind  the  state  of  the  world  at  the 
time  these  words  were  uttered,  for  we  shall  find 
our  own  position  but  little  altered  in  its  essential 
characteristics.  This  angelic  message  certainly 
offered  a  strange  contrast  to  the  predominant 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  the  world  at  that  day. 
The  wonderful  empire  of  Rome,  which  was  destined 
to  supply  some  of  the  most  important  elements  of 
all  future  civilization,  was  gradually  consolidating 
its  strength ;  it  was  crushing  independent  nationali- 
ties like  that  of  the  Jews,  dazzling  and  overawing 
men  by  its  splendour  and  force.  It  seemed  the  one 
great  fact  with  which  men  had  to  deal.  It  evidently 
absorbed  the  attention  of  the  Jews  themselves,  and 
before  long  they  aroused  themselves  to  a  deadly 


OF   JESUS  73 

grapple  with  it.  At  that  moment,  and  amidst  this 
wonderful  development  of  organized  force  and  law, 
a  voice  from  heaven  is  heard,  and  a  Divine  message 
announces  the  advent  of  the  King  and  Saviour  of 
mankind.  And  to  what  does  it  address  itself  ?  It 
passes  by  all  the  external  interests  with  which  the 
Jews  were  busying  and  perplexing  themselves ;  it 
leaves  them  all,  as  it  were,  to  take  care  of  them- 
selves, and  it  proclaims  that  the  coming  Saviour 
has  but  one  thing  to  do — to  save  His  people  from 
their  sins.  All  the  rest  could  be  left  to  follow 
naturally  from  this  one  deliverance ;  but  here  was 
the  point  of  vital  interest  in  the  whole  strange  and 
painful  scene.  It  was  a  marvellous  contrast  between 
human  and  Divine  judgment.  But  if  the  same 
voice  were  now  heard  from  Heaven,  would  the 
contrast  be  less  startling  ?  We  know  too  well  with 
what  excitements,  what  passions,  what  political 
struggles,  what  wars  and  revolutions,  what  domestic 
difficulties  and  sufferings,  the  thoughts  of  the  world, 
and  our  own  thoughts,  are  from  day  to  day  distracted 
and  oppressed.  Amidst  it  all,  the  Christian  Church 
proclaims  its  message ;  and  Sunday  after  Sunday 
it  recalls  the  old  voice  from  Heaven,  which  summons 
men  above  all  things  to  repent,  and  to  seek  salvation 
from  their  sins.  But  how  far  is  it  realized — how 
far,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  do  we  realize — that  this  is 
the  interest  which  predominates  over  all  others, 


74  THE   NAME 

which  determines  the  result  of  every  other  effort  of 
human  nature,  which  not  only  decides  the  fate  of 
individuals,  but  which  exalts  or  abases  nations,  and 
that  here  alone  is  to  be  found  that  wisdom,  by 
which,  in  the  ultimate  resort,  kings  reign  and  princes 
decree  justice  ? 

In  meditating,  indeed,  on  these  words,  we  should  do 
ill  to  forget  the  intimate  connection  which,  with  the 
Jews  to  whom  they  were  first  spoken,  as  with  our- 
selves, unites  their  private,  their  national,  and  their 
worldwide  significance.  There  is  no  reason  to  think 
that  the  craving  of  the  Jews  for  their  temporal  de- 
liverance from  subjugation  to  a  heathen  power  was 
in  itself  wrong  or  unworthy.  The  King  of  the  Jews, 
who  had  led  His  people  out  of  bondage  in  former 
times  by  His  glorious  arm,  cannot  be  supposed  to 
have  been  indifferent  to  the  new  bondage  into 
which  they  had  fallen.  The  feelings  of  His  heart 
must  still  have  been  expressed  by  His  own  words  in 
the  Psalm,  '  0  that  my  people  had  hearkened 
unto  me,  for  if  Israel  had  walked  in  my  ways,  I 
should  soon  have  put  down  their  enemies,  and 
turned  my  hand  against  their  adversaries.'  It  is 
equally  impossible  to  suppose  Him  indifferent  to  the 
temporal  needs,  sufferings,  and  problems  which 
engage  the  attention  of  statesmen  and  philosophers 
in  the  present  day.  He,  far  more  than  any  one 
among  ourselves,  must,  in  the  language  of  the 


OF  JESUS  75 

Scriptures,  be  '  grieved  to  the  heart,'  by  the  wars 
and  rumours  of  wars,  the  social  disorder  and  misery, 
under  which  so  great  a  part  of  the  world  groans, 
and  of  which  large  classes  among  ourselves  have  so 
sad  a  share.  But  what  He  would  have  us  remember, 
as  \ve  labour  to  deliver  ourselves  and  others  from 
these  evils,  is  that  no  mere  social  and  political 
arrangements,  no  bravery  and  no  wisdom,  if  it  be 
only  the  wisdom  of  this  world,  will  free  us  and  other 
nations  from  these  terrible  scourges.  The  only 
Saviour  of  mankind  is  He  who  saves  them  from 
their  sins,  and  we  shall  carry  out  His  work  effectually, 
in  proportion  as  we  follow  His  method.  In  maladies 
of  the  body,  when  the  whole  frame  is  shaken  by 
some  violent  fever  or  convulsion,  the  real  source  of 
the  mischief  may  be  known  by  the  physician  to 
consist  in  the  derangement  of  the  minutest  cells  of 
the  brain,  or  of  the  most  elementary  functions  of 
the  constitution.  It  is  precisely  the  same  with  the 
body  politic,  and  with  the  world  at  large.  It  is  by 
disbelief  in  the  elementary  truths  of  religion,  by 
unfaithfulness  to  the  elementary  dictates  of  morality, 
that  the  reason  and  the  will  are  corrupted,  and  life 
is  disorganized ;  and  if  we  would  solve  the  problems 
which  distract  us,  and  discern  our  way  amidst  the  per- 
plexities of  life,  our  only  sure  method  is  to  quicken 
our  belief  in  these  elementary  truths,  and  to  invi- 
gorate our  practice  of  these  elementary  moral  duties. 


76  THE   NAME 

What  a  tremendous  task  do  not  these  considera- 
tions set  before  us !  But,  for  our  encouragement,  let 
us  remember  what  a  desperate  task,  to  all  human 
calculations,  it  must  have  appeared  at  the  time  this 
blessed  assurance  was  uttered :  the  whole  world, 
witli  one  small  exception,  given  over  to  idolatry,  and 
philosophers  and  moralists  conscious  of  their  in- 
ability to  cope  with  the  vices  inseparably  entwined 
with  the  popular  superstitions.  We  contemplate 
at  the  present  day  a  vaster  world ;  but  the  pro- 
blems before  us  are  not  more  tremendous  than 
those  which  presented  themselves  to  the  eye 
of  an  early  Christian.  Most  of  us,  indeed,  have 
reason  enough  to  be  appalled,  as  we  reflect  on 
the  evil  of  our  own  hearts,  and  the  consequences 
of  our  own  past  lives.  There  is  surely  no 
thoughtful  man  who,  in  his  serious  moments,  can 
contrast  what  he  is  with  what  he  ought  to  have 
been,  without  remorse,  if  not  dismay.  Some  more 
and  some  less,  but  all  undeniably,  we  are  conscious 
that  the  true  life  of  our  souls  has  been  marred,  that 
the  flesh  lusts  against  the  spirit,  and  that  we  cannot 
do  the  things  that  we  would ;  that  sin  of  one  kind 
or  another  is  bound  up  in  our  very  frame,  absorbed, 
as  it  were,  into  the  very  fibres  of  our  brain,  and 
perpetually  reasserting  itself  in  imperious  habits.  To 
all  serious  souls  the  Church's  daily  Confession,  with 
its  keen  self-abasement,  and  in  their  most  solemn 


OF  JESUS  77 

moments  the  still  deeper  coufession  of  the  Com- 
munion Service,  embodies  their  bitter  experience. 
We  struggle  and  we  gain  ground ;  but  to  the  last 
we  must  be  impressed  with  an  intense  sense  of  im- 
perfection, if  not  of  wilful  sin,  and  never  in  this 
world  is  onr  deliverance  from  sin  complete.  If  we 
were  left  to  contemplate  men  as  left  to  themselves, 
and  to  the  play  of  natural  laws  and  forces,  the 
problem  presented  to  us  by  considerations  such  as 
these  would  surpass  in  its  darkness  and  oppressive- 
ness all  others.  Whole  races,  we  know,  have  been 
oppressed  through  long  generations  by  the  experi- 
ence and  contemplation  of  the  visible  sufferings 
of  mankind,  and  by  the  physical  and  temporal 
evils  which  weigh  on  them.  But  what  are  these, 
in  comparison  of  the  injury  and  ruin  presented 
by  our  moral  nature  ? 

It  is  always  difficult  —  it  was  difficult  in  the 
days  of  Socrates  and  Plato,  and  is  not  less  diffi- 
cult now  —  to  induce  men  to  contemplate  the 
state  of  their  souls  with  the  same  keenness  of 
perception  which  they  bestow  on  that  of  their 
bodies.  Is  it  not,  to  say  the  least,  too  rare,  for 
men  and  women  to  shudder  and  shrink  from  a 

• 

moral  defilement  with  the  same  instinctive  horror 
with  which  they  recoil  from  a  loathsome  disease  ? 
And  are  there  not  sins — and  among  them  some  which 
inflict  the  deepest  wounds  on  the  moral  nature — 


78  THE  NAME 

are  there  not  blasphemies  against  God,  and  offences 
against  one  another,  which  are  too  frequently 
discussed,  if  not  committed,  with  lightness  ?  But 
the  course  of  modern  discoveries  renders  us  more 
than  ever  justified  in  regarding  the  moral  condition 
of  mankind  as  analogous  to  their  physical ;  and  the 
imperfection,  the  disease,  the  weakness,  and  the 
death,  which  affect  our  physical  frame,  afford  a 
visible,  though  but  an  imperfect,  picture  of  the 
moral  and  spiritual  ruin  of  which  our  souls  are 
capable,  and  from  which,  to  a  fearful  extent,  they 
actually  suffer.  Moral  maladies,  moreover,  are  far 
more  general  than  physical,  and  far  more  subtle. 
They  may  take  the  form  even  of  virtues,  and  pervert 
the  judgment  of  whole  masses  of  men.  Even  virtue 
itself  has  its  dangers,  and  persons  who  escape  de- 
grading forms  of  vice  may  be  overtaken  by  vanity 
or  self-righteousness — vices  which  may  become,  as 
was  shown  in  the  case  of  the  Pharisees,  not  less  in- 
jurious than  grosser  sins  to  the  health  of  the  moral 
nature.  To  this  must  be  added  the  unquestionable 
fact,  that  vast  numbers  of  men  and  women  are  born 
in  circumstances  which  renders  some  form  of  moral 
disease  almost  a  part  of  their  nature,  and  that  most 
persons  inherit  some  special  evil  tendency.  Con- 
templating such  a  picture  of  the  moral  condition  of 
human  nature,  what  an  appalling  problem  does  it 
not  present  to  us !  How  natural — nay,  from  a  mere 


OF   JESUS  79 

worldly  point  of  view,  how  reasonable — would  it 
not  be  to  despair  if  we  were  left  to  ourselves ! 
How  justifiable  would  be  that  pessimism,  in  which, 
from  time  to  time,  the  bitter  experience  of  human 
nature  finds  its  sad  expression ! 

There  seems,  indeed,  one  school  of  thought  now 
among  us  which  can  contemplate  the  spectacle  with 
philosophical  complacency — watching  simply,  as  it 
supposes,  the  gradual  evolution  of  moral  life  on  the 
whole,  and  not  concerning  itself  with  individual 
failures.  But  those  failures,  with  all  they  involve,  are 
the  very  miseries  from  which  we  crave  to  be  delivered, 
and  delivered  nosv.  It  is  these  which  are  denounced 
and  lamented  in  the  too  true  confessions  of  pessi- 
mist philosophers.  They  are  justly  the  most  sensi- 
tive point  in  the  Christian  conscience  ;  they  consti- 
tute the  ever-present  burden  of  individual  hearts. 
The  question  which  must  ever  recur  to  us  is  that 
which — thank  God ! — is  answered  in  the  text.  "What 
is  to  bestow  upon  ourselves  and  upon  our  fellows 
the  spiritual  and  moral  health  for  which  we  each  of 
us  crave  ?  Where  is  the  remedy  to  be  found  which 
can  penetrate  the  whole  moral  and  spiritual  world  ? 
And  how  are  we  each  and  all  to  be  lifted  out  of  our 
natural  condition  of  utter  imperfection  and  sin?  A 
philosophy  or  a  religion  which  fails  to  answer  that 
question,  for  the  relief  of  every  individual  soul, 
leaves  unsolved  the  grand  problem  of  humanity ; 


80  THE   NAME 

and  with  the  exception  of  the  Gospel,  every  religion 
and  every  philosophy  has,  by  its  own  confession,  thus 
failed — above  all,  that  agnostic  philosophy  which 
now  asserts  itself  so  loudly  among  us. 

I  have  said,  however,  that  the  question  is  an- 
swered in  the  text ;  and  just  in  proportion  as  we 
realize  the  overwhelming  oppression  just  described, 
shall  we  appreciate  its  blessed  assurance.  It  pro- 
claims that  there  is  One  who  will  save  His  people 
from  their  sins.  It  is  necessary  to  apprehend 
distinctly  the  definite  character  of  that  announce- 
ment. It  directs  us  to  a  person  who,  by  His 
own  work  and  act,  will  save  His  people.  The 
pronoun  is  emphatic — auro<?  <r<a<rei — HE  will  save 
His  people.  The  message,  therefore,  does  not 
simply  proclaim  to  those  people  the  way  of  sal- 
vation, leaving  them  to  their  own  exertions  alone  in 
following  it.  Still  less  is  it  content  with  announcing 
to  them  a  clearer  revelation  of  the  laws  of  their 
nature.  That  which  is  announced  is  more  than  a 
revelation,  it  is  a  birth.  It  is  the  introduction  into 
the  world  of  a  new  creation,  the  second  Adam,  the 
Lord  from  heaven,  henceforth  to  be  present,  by  His 
personal  power  and  Spirit,  to  redeem  men,  to  rege- 
nerate them,  to  save  them :  not  merely,  be  it 
observed,  to  teach  them  how  to  be  saved,  but  to 
save  them — to  act  with  them,  and  for  them,  and  in 
them ;  to  be  at  their  side  in  life  and  in  death,  to 


OF  JESUS  81 

be  Himself  the  propitiation  for  their  sius  with  the 
God  whom  they  have  forgotten  and  offended — in  a 
word,  to  die  for  them  and  to  live  with  them,  and  to 
render  it  possible  for  them  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation,  by  working  with  them  both  to  will  and 
to  do  of  His  good  pleasure. 

It  is  this  revelation  of  a  personal  Saviour  which 
constitutes  the  cardinal  element  of  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage ;  and  whether  in  days  of  controversy,  or  in 
hours  of  temptation  and  sorrow,  it  needs  above  all 
other  things  to  be  borne  in  mind.  Never  was  it 
more  necessary  to  insist  on  it  than  at  the  present 
day.  In  the  controversies  we  hear  around  us,  and 
from  which  few  of  us  can  altogether  escape,  the 
Gospel  is  constantly  compared  with  other  religions, 
iind  with  forms  of  philosophy,  as  though  the  moral 
truths  enforced  by  them  constituted  an  adequate 
ground  of  comparison.  Considering  the  question, 
indeed,  simply  on  that  ground,  the  claims  of  our 
faith  are  overwhelming.  But  it  is  important  to 
remember  that  all  discussions  conducted  on  this 
level  leave  out  of  sight  the  main  fact— the  one 
only  fact  on  which  the  heavenly  messengers  cared 
to  dwell— that  the  Gospel  proclaims  the  coming  into 
the  world  of  a  living  Saviour,  who  is  Himself  per- 
petually saving  His  people  from  their  sins,  and  who 
has  promised  that  hereafter  He  will,  completely 
deliver  them.  When  we  hear  any  principles 


82  THE   NAME 

which  involve  the  abandonment  of  the  Gospel  dis- 
cussed, so  to  speak,  with  a  light  heart,  this  simple 
truth  and  promise  must  surely  have  been  left  out 
of  sight.   If  there  be,  as  the  Gospel  says,  a  perfectly 
Holy  and  Almighty  being,  the  man  Jesus,  in  all 
His  gentleness,  all  His  wisdom,  all  His  power,  per- 
petually at  our  side,  desiring  to  hear  us,  to  guide  us, 
to  control  us,  to  save  us,  what  man  or  woman  can 
contemplate    the    surrender    of    such    an    infinite 
blessing  without    an  intense  pang?      Who    would 
willingly  forego  the  perpetual  presence  of  a  perfect 
friend?     Above  all  things  who  would  forego  it,  for 
time  and  for  eternity,  if  that  friend  be  a  perfect 
Saviour?     It    would  surely  check  many   a   crude 
speculation,  and  many  a  rash  neglect  of  the  claims 
of  our  faith,  if  men  bore  in  mind  more  clearly  this 
simple  and  cardinal  element  in  it.     It  is  not  simply 
a  truth  more  or  less  which  is  abandoned   by  un- 
belief, but  a  Person — a  living  and  a  present  Saviour. 
In  a  word,  the  message  of  the  Gospel,  and   its 
essential  blessing,  is  not  merely  the  revelation  of  a 
truth ;  it  is  the  creation  of  a  fact — the  most  blessed 
fact    in   life  —  that    every     human    being    has    a 
Saviour   at   his    side,   and    that  iu    proportion   as 
he  trusts    that    Saviour's    help    and    follows    His 
guidance,  he  will  be  delivered  from  all  his  evil.  The 
methods,  indeed,  of  that  deliverance  are  various,  and 
the  Saviour  works  by  natural  as  well  as  by  super- 


OF   JESUS  83 

natural  means.  The  salvation  of  souls  has  been 
wrought  by  sudden  miracles  in  Apostolic  times,  and 
since  then  by  conversions  scarcely  less  miraculous. 
At  other  times,  and  in  other  cases,  it  has  been 
worked  out  by  a  gradual,  and  perhaps  painful 
education — it  may  be  by  a  severe  and  bitter  disci- 
pline. There  is  sternness,  as  well  as  gentleness,  in 
the  character  of  a  true  Saviour ;  and  as  His  treat- 
ment of  His  own  people  shows,  He  is  capable  of 
wrath  as  well  as  of  mercy.  As  applied  in  daily 
life,  that  salvation  involves  the  use  of  all  means  for 
moral  and  spiritual  purification.  As  with  our 
physical,  so  with  our  moral  diseases,  the  Saviour 
has  proved  to  us  by  His  miracles  that  they  can  all 
be  overcome,  and  that  He  possesses  the  power  to 
deliver  us  from  any  evil  whatever;  but  it  would 
seem  as  though  He  were  educating  us,  in  both  cases, 
to  the  utmost  possible  development  of  our  natural  re- 
sources. While,  however,  we  are  thus  struggling  to 
do  our  utmost  with  all  the  means  at  our  disposal,  with 
all  the  resources  of  religious  and  useful  learning, 
with  the  wisdom  of  statesmen  and  with  all  tin- 
applications  of  art  and  science,  the  gracious  truth 
is  proclaimed  to  us  that  He  is  with  us,  to  bless 
every  agency  that  we  can  employ,  and  to  complete 
our  work  and  His  own  by  the  mighty  operation  of 
His  spirit.  We  are  justified  by  His  death  ;  and  \v«- 
are  saved  bv  His  life.  To  as  many  as  believe  in 

G  2 


84  THE   NAME 

Him,  He  gives  the  power  to  become  the  sons  of 
God,  and  they  are  assured  that  they  will  hereafter 
be  like  Him,  seeing  Him  as  He  is,  and  reflecting 
His  glory. 

So  simple,  yet  so  far-reaching  in  its  application, 
is  the  heavenly  summary  of  the  Gospel  message.  It 
is  the  life  and  soul  of  all  Christian  doctrine ;  and  in 
proportion  as  it  is  borne  in  mind,  does  every  truth 
of  our  faitli  become  illuminated  with  a  gracious 
light,  at  once  human  and  Divine.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  doctrine  of  the  Atonement,  with  which  this  text 
has  sometimes,  perhaps,  been  too  exclusively  con- 
nected, but  which  is  deeply  involved  in  it.  Its 
central  principle  is  the  simple  fact  that  Christ,  by 
His  personal  act,  and  by  the  shedding  of  His  blood, 
has  made  reconciliation  between  us  and  God.  In  St. 
John's  comprehensive  expression,  'He  Himself  is 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins.'  He,  in  His  love, 
and  in  His  life  and  death,  appeals  alike  to  the  love 
of  God  and  to  the  heart  of  man.  It  is  the  personal 
Saviour,  in  His  personal  sacrifice,  who  constitutes 
this  propitiation.  Or  consider  again  the  truth  of 
His  Divinity.  Its  supreme  practical  importance  is 
sufficiently  discerned  from  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
necessary  condition  of  our  belief  in  the  simple 
assurance  of  the  text  in  all  its  fulness.  For  it  is 
because  our  Lord  is  God,  as  well  as  man,  that  He 
is  able  to  be  everywhere  present  to  every  soul,  at 


OF   JESUS  85 

all  times,  that  we  oau  believe  that  He  is  ever  with 
us,  perpetually  speaking  by  His  Spirit  to  our  hearts. 
None  but  one  who  is  God  as  well  as  man  can  be  a 
Saviour  in  that  comprehensive  sense  in  which  our 
Lord  constantly  proclaims  Himself,  and  in  which 
it  is  our  blessing  to  believe  on  Him.  None  else  c\n 
be  with  us  through  life  and  death ;  to  none  other  can 
we  commend  our  souls  at  our  last  hours.  The  loftiest 
heights  of  Christian  truth  are  thus  involved  in  this 
text,  when  given  its  ample  meaning. 

Not  less  involved  in  it  are  the  heights  and  depths 
of  all  human  experience,  if  they  are  to  issue  in 
blessing  and  not  in  despair.  The  hour  will  come  to 
all  of  us  when  our  flesh  and  heart  will  fail  us,  when 
the  eye  will  be  dim  and  the  mind  be  unable  to  retain 
any  but  the  simplest  thought ;  but  in  that  hour  to 
the  Christian,  the  one  word  Saviour,  the  name  of 
Jesus,  will  suffice  to  assure  us  that  the  eternal  God 
is  with  us,  and  that  underneath  us  are  the  ever- 
lasting arms.  And  as  this  short  and  simple  Gospel 
is  the  one  adequate  comfort  in  death,  not  less  in  life 
does  it  transform  our  whole  moral  position.  Its 
effect  is  to  render  possib'e  moral  aims  and  moral 
efforts,  which  would  otherwise  be  impracticable  and 
desperate.  Consider  a  man  as  standing  alone  amidst 
his  fellows,  and  left  to  no  other  influence  than  theirs, 
and  it  cannot  but  be  recognized  that  there  are  limit* 
to  the  possibilities  of  his  moral  achievements.  On 


$6  THE    NAME 

natural  grounds,  he  cannot  rise  above  himself  and 
the  influences  with  which  he  is  surrounded.  There 
are  consequences  of  his  past  sins  which  he  cannot 
shake  off,  and  it  might  even  seem  harsh  to  ask  too 
much  of  him.  But  once  recognize  that  there  is  a 
Divine  Saviour  at  his  side,  and  all  is  changed.  No 
aim  is  then  too  lofty,  and  no  hope  too  bold.  It  is  not 
too  much,  then,  to  address  to  him  even  the  com- 
mand, '  Be  ye  perfect,  even  as  your  Father  which 
is  in  heaven  is  perfect.'  The  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
in  which  that  expression  occurs,  affords  a  most 
striking  illustration  of  this  truth.  Had  it  been 
addressed  to  men  in  their  natural  condition,  there 
would  be  something  terrible  in  its  unsparing 
severity,  in  the  relentlessness  with  which  it  exposes 
the  fatal  vice  of  even  passing  thoughts  and  looks 
and  words,  and  in  the  narrowness  and  straitness 
of  the  path  which  it  marks  out.  But  it  is  not 
addressed  to  men  in  their  natural  condition.  It  is 
addressed  by  a  Saviour  to  those  whom  He  is  ready 
to  save,  and  it  is  clenched,  and  enforced,  and  ren- 
dered tolerable  to  our  weakness  by  that  Saviour's 
evangelical  promise,  'Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given 
you.  ...  If  ye,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children,  how  much  more  shall 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven  give  good  things 
to  them  that  ask  Him?'  With  a  Saviour  at 
our  side,  but  only  under  this  condition,  that  Sermon 


OF   JESUS  87 

is  the  revelation  of  an  ideal  at  which  every  soul 
may  aim,  and  which  every  soul  may  hope  some 
day  to  attain.  We  are  capable,  with  that  aid, 
of  ever-increasing  growth  in  truth,  in  righteousness, 
and  in  all  grace,  and  of  ultimate  union  with  truth, 
and  righteousness,  and  glory  itself.  This  blessing 
is  ours  because  of  the  truth  declared  in  the  text — 
because  there  is  a  Saviour,  who  will  save  His  people 
from  their  sins.  Such  is  the  profound  significance 
of  the  angelic  announcement  which  is  recorded  at 
the  outset  of  the  Gospels.  It  is  the  key  to  all  that 
follows ;  and  only  in  proportion  as  we  apprehend  the 
depth  of  its  meaning  and  its  supreme  importance, 
can  we  be  in  a  position  to  appreciate  either  the 
historic  facts  or  the  spiritual  verities  which  are 
involved  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  our  Lord. 

Let  me  remark,  in  conclusion,  that  the  truth  of 
this  announcement  has  been  tested  by  a  long  and 
blessed  experience.  Above  all,  in  a  degree  which 
has  too  rarely  since  been  approached,  was  it  expe- 
rienced and  verified  by  the  early  Church.  In  the 
strength  which  this  promise  of  a  Saviour  afforded 
them,  and  with  the  grace  which  that  Saviour  gave 
them,  they  sprang  forward  with  irrepressible  eager- 
in  the  pursuit  of  all  Christian  graces.  The  new 
world  of  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  love,  joy,  peace, 
gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness,  temperance 
—faith,  hope,  and  charity — seemed  to  open  itself 


88  THE   NAME   OF   JESUS 

to  their  hopes  and  energies,  and  they  lived 
and  breathed  as  new  creatures  in  Christ.  No  de- 
light seemed  to  them  comparable  to  that  of  this 
spiritual  career,  and  every  moment  seemed  lost 
which  did  not  advance  them  in  likeness  to  their 
Saviour.  That  blessing  and  that  glorious  career  are 
open  to  all  of  us.  No  soul  need  be  so  saddened 
by  failure,  or  so  oppressed  by  weakness,  or  so  bur- 
dened by  sorrow  and  pain,  as  to  forego  it.  The 
message  of  the  text  is  adequate  to  renew  the 
spiritual  life  of  every  soul  who  is  privileged  to  receive 
it.  We  may  well  feel,  as  we  contemplate  our  past,  our 
present,  or  our  future,  that  we  cannot  save  ourselves. 
But  our  Christian  faith  is  summed  up  in  the  acknow- 
ledgment of  One  who  was  called  Jesus,  because  He 
shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins.  Let  us  only 
be  among  His  people  ;  let  us  trust  Him,  obey  Him, 
pray  to  Him,  work  with  Him ;  and  we  are  assured  by 
His  promise,  and  by  the  unvarying  experience  of 
Christians,  that  He  will  guide,  support,  and  deliver 
us. 


LECTURE   V 


"And  when  Jesus  was  entered  into  Capernaum,  there  came  unto 
Him  a  centurion,  beseeching  Him,  and  saying,  Lord,  my  servant  lieth 
at  home  sick  of  the  palsy,  grievously  tormented.  And  Jesus  saith 
unto  him.  I  will  come  and  heal  him.  The  centurion  answered  and 
said,  Lord,  I  am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldest  come  under  my  roof : 
but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my  servant  shall  be  healed.  For  I  am 
a  man  under  authority,  having  soldiers  under  me :  and  I  say  to  this 
man,  Go,  and  he  goeth  ;  and  to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh ;  and  to 
my  servant,  Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it.  When  Jesus  heard  it,  He 
marvelled,  and  said  to  them  that  followed,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  I 
have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel." — St.  Matt.  viii.  5-10. 

THE  eighth  chapter  of  St.  Matthew  is  a  portion  of 
that  Gospel  which  has  peculiar  value  from  the  light 
which  it  throws  upon  our  Lord's  miracles.  The 
eighth  and  ninth  chapters  contain  a  record  of  ten 
of  His  miracles,  and  these  are  one  half  of  the  whole 
number  recorded  by  that  evangelist;  while  it  is 
also  to  be  noticed  that  this  record  of  all  these  works 
of  supernatural  power  and  mercy  immediately 
follows  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  may  first 
be  observed  that  this  close  juxtaposition  of  two 
such  portions  of  the  narrative  is  but  one  of  many 
instances  of  the  impossibility  of  separating  the  tes- 
timony of  the  evangelists  to  the  miraculous  works 


90  THE   MIRACLES 

of  our  Lord  from  their  testimony  to  His  moral 
teaching.  Their  credibility  in  reporting  the  latter 
is  fully  admitted  by  many  persons  who  hesitate  to 
admit  it  with  respect  to  the  former.  But  their 
admitted  faithfulness  in  the  one  portion  of  their 
narratives  cannot  but  add  immense  weight  to  their 
testimony  in  the  other.  In  the  three  chapters  pre- 
ceding this  miraculous  record,  St.  Matthew  has  pre- 
served to  us,  with  a  vividness  and  force  of  which  the 
most  sceptical  are  sensible,  a  long  discourse  by  our 
Lord  of  supreme  import,  which  is  universally  felt 
to  embody  some  of  His  most  characteristic  teach- 
ing. Men  of  very  diverse  views,  even  among 
those  who  are  most  hostile  to  our  faith  as  a  whole, 
feel  in  their  inmost  consciences  that  these  were  the 
words  of  one  who  spoke  to  men  with  an  authority 
beyond  that  of  any  other  teacher,  and  accept  them 
as  a  true  account  of  the  greatest  moral  instruction 
ever  heard.  Now,  is  it  not  a  strange  paradox,  to 
suppose  that  a  writer  who  was  sufficiently  imbued 
with  the  spirit  of  the  teaching  of  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount  to  record  its  substance  with  a  force  and 
accuracy  which  have  penetrated  to  the  hearts  of  all 
subsequent  generations,  should  immediately,  and, 
as  it  were,  almost  in  the  same  breath,  pass  to  a 
similarly  long  narrative  of  purely  illusive  reminis- 
cences? In  the  one  passage,  we  are  surrounded 
with  a  blaze  of  moral  and  spiritual  light,  piercing 


OF   OUR   LORD  91 

to  the  very  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart,  bum- 
ing  up  all  falsehood  in  word  or  deed,  a1!  hypocrisy 
and  unreality;  and  in  the  next  passage  some  would 
ask  us  to  believe  that  we  find  ourselves  in  an 
atmosphere  of  illusion,  credulity,  and  uncertainty ! 
Such  a  transition  from  absolute  light — light  un- 
dimmed,  unobscured  by  a  single  shadow,  unper- 
verted  by  a  single  false,  colour,  is  certainly  unknown 
elsewhere,  and  may  well  be  regarded  as  inconceiv- 
able. But  it  is  the  same  throughout  the  Gospels. 
Many  of  onr  Lord's  most  precious  sayings  are  in- 
separably bound  up  with  His  miracles,  arise  out  of 
them  and  point  their  lessons.  The  two  are  indis- 
solubly  united  :  and  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is 
thus  itself  the  best  guarantee  for  the  miraculous 
narratives  which  immediately  follow  it. 

But  there  is  a  special  characteristic  about  these 
two  chapters  which  adds  further  weight  to  this  con- 
sideration. The  record  of  these  miracles  appears 
to  be  placed  in  this  particular  connection  by  express 
design;  for  they  are  narrated  with  a  marked  devia- 
tion from  chronological  order.  There  appears  no 
question,  from  the  narratives  of  the  other  evangelists, 
that  the  miracles  here  narrated  did  not  all  follow 
immediately — even  if  any  of  them  did — the  de- 
livery of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  St.  Matthew 
would  seem  to  have  grouped  them  together  here, 
with  little  reference  to  the  order  in  which  they 


92  THE   MIRACLES 

occurred,  for  a  special  purpose ;  and  it  is  natural 
to  suppose  that  this  purpose  was  to  illustrate  one 
particular  aspect  of  our  Lord's  ministry.     He  had 
just  given  a  long  and  comprehensive  example  of  our 
Lord's  teaching,  and  he  immediately  proceeds  to 
exhibit  a  similarly  comprehensive  illustration  of  His 
working.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  effect  produced  ;  and 
considering  that  the  various  incidents  in  these  two 
chapters  are,  as  has  been  said,  brought  together  out 
of  their  order,  we  may  well  suppose  that  such  was 
the  design.     In  fact,  in  the  twenty-third  verse  of 
the  fourth  chapter,  St.  Matthew   has  summarized 
onr  Lord's  ministry  under  these  two  heads  of  teach- 
ing and   healing.      '  Jesus.'  we  read,  '  went  about 
all    Galilee,   teaching    in    their    synagogues,   and 
preaching  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom,  and  healing 
all  manner  of  sickness  and  all  manner  of  disease 
among  the  people.'     Of  this  teaching  St.  Matthew 
proceeds  to  give  us  an  account  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount ;  and  of  these  works  of  healing  he  next 
gives  an  account  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  chapters. 
At  the  end  of  the  ninth  chapter,  in  the  thirty-fifth 
verse,  this  ministry,  in   its   two-fold   character,   is 
again  summed  up  in  almost  the  same  words.     '  Jesus 
went  about  all  the  cities  and  villages,  teaching  in 
their  synagogues,  and  preaching  the  gospel  of  the 
kingdom,   and   healing   every  sickness  and   every 
disease  among  the  people.'      Then   the   evangelist 


OF    OUR  LORD  93 

passes  to  describe  the  extension  of  the  same  mini- 
sterial work  by  the  mission  of  the  twelve  apostles, 
and  afterwards  proceeds  to  other  topics,  such  as  that 
contest  with  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  which  ended 
in  our  Saviour's  death.  There  thus  appears  a  very 
clear  and  instructive  order  in  the  arrangement  of 
the  Gospel ;  and  the  evangelist  would  seem  most 
carefully  to  impress  upon  us  what  were  the  two 
main  elements  in  our  Saviour's  ministerial  work, 
and  their  intimate  connection  with  each  other.  He 
was  at  once  a  Teacher  and  a  Saviour ;  in  the  one 
character  summoning  men  to  repent,  because  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand — a  kingdom  with 
severer  laws,  sterner  demands,  more  exalted  ideals, 
than  any  that  had  been  heard  of  in  this  world ;  but, 
on  the  other  hand,  revealing  Himself  as  the  royal 
possessor  of  new  and  glorious  powers,  and  able  to 
save  all  who  trusted  Him  from  the  evils,  whether 
bodily  or  spiritual,  under  which  they  were  suffering, 
and  of  which  His  teaching  revealed  the  terrible 
danger  and  misery. 

It  cannot  but  be  felt  that  this  second  manifesta- 
tion is  at  once  a  most  gracious  and  a  most  neces- 
sary addition  to  the  former.  Our  Lord  had  just 
been  exhibiting  a  picture  of  the  perfection  of 
human  life,  spiritually,  morally,  and  even  physi- 
cally. He  had  described,  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount,  a  character  of  perfect  righteousness,  gentle- 


94  THE    MIRACLES 

ness,  purity,  truth,  mercy,  and  faith.  Take  St. 
Paul's  summary  of  Christian  virtues,  and  you  will 
find  it  an  abridgment  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount : 
'  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness,  faith,  meekness, 
temperance.'  These  graces  are  enlarged  upon  by 
our  Lord,  and  exhibited  in  contrast  to  the  im- 
perfections presented  by  men's  actual  characters 
and  conduct.  But  He  does  not  confine  His  descrip- 
tion to  the  spiritual  or  moral  life.  He  assures  His 
disciples  that  in  proportion  as  they  lived  in  this 
spirit  of  faith,  seeking  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  all  other  things  should  be 
added  unto  them.  'Consider  the  lilies  of  the 
field,'  He  says,  'how  they  grow;  they  toil  not, 
neither  do  they  spin :  and  yet  I  say  unto  you  that 
even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like 
one  of  these.  Wherefore,  if  God  so  clothe  the 
grass  of  the  field,  which  to-day  is,  and  to-morrow  is 
cast  unto  the  oven,  shall  He  not  much  more  clothe 
you,  O  ye  of  little  faith?'  It  was  this  combina- 
tion of  complete  soundness  or  salvation  in  body  and 
soul,  to  which  the  prophets  of  His  people  had 
looked  forward,  uniting  in  one  glorious  vision  all 
spiritual,  moral,  and  physical  perfection.  The  pas- 
sage which  St.  Luke  tells  us  He  Himself  chose  from 
the  prophet  Isaiah,  vividly  depicts  such  a  revela- 
tion— '  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me,  because 


OF   OUR   LORD  95 

He  hath  anointed  me  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the 
poor  ;  He  hath  sent  me  to  heal  the  broken-hearted, 
to  preach  deliverance  to  the  captives,  and  recovery 
of  sight  to  the  blind,  to  set  at  liberty  them  that  are 
bruised,  to  preach  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 
'This  day,'  He  said,  'is  this  Scripture  fulfilled  in 
your  ears.'  But  how  could  it  have  been  fulfilled, 
unless,  in  addition  to  proclaiming  anew  these  pro- 
mises, in  addition  to  enlightening  the  consciences 
and  stimulating  the  moral  energies  of  His  people, 
He  had  actually  exerted  that  healing  and  saving 
power  of  which  He  spoke  ? 

Would  it  not,  in  fact,  have  seemed,  we  may 
almost  say,  a  cruel  mockery  of  human  hopes  and 
aspirations,  had  our  Lord  been  unable  to  do  more 
than  hold  up  before  men  more  perfect  ideals  than 
any  they  had  ever  dreamed  of,  without  stretching 
out  His  hand  of  power  to  enable  them  to  realize 
such  visions?  There  has  been  no  sadder  experi- 
ence, throughout  the  history  of  mankind,  than 
the  desperate,  if  not  despairing,  efforts  of  noble 
spirits  to  hold  up  such  ideals  before  themselves 
and  their  fellows,  and  the  disappointment  caused 
by  the  ever-repeated  failure  to  attain  them.  The 
spectacle  or  the  experience  has,  in  age  after  age, 
turned  some  passionate  souls  to  cynicism,  and  h;is 
tempted  the  mass  of  men  to  acquiescence  in  low 
standards,  as  all  they  could  attain  to.  But  en- 


96  THE   MIRACLES 

deavonr  for  a  moment  to  realize    what  a   terrible 
exhibition  of  this  weakness  would  have  been  afforded, 
if  the  words  of  the  Gospels    had   presented   to  us 
nothing  but  the  Saviour's  exhortations  to  perfection, 
and  no  instances  of  His  power  to  ensure  their  fulfil- 
ment.    We  should  have  contemplated,  as  it  were,  a 
glorious  and  inaccessible  height,  sensible  above  all 
things  that  it  was  for   ever  beyond  the   reach  of 
ourselves  and  of  our  fellows.     But  at  this  point  the 
miracles  of  the  Gospels  come  in,  to  give,  as  it  were, 
a  reality  to  all  these  visions,  hopes,  and  aspirations. 
We   see  all  the  evils   and   miseries  which  afflict 
mankind  driven  away  at  the  Saviour's  word,  in  re- 
sponse  to   the   prayer   of  earnest   faith.      A  leper 
comes  and  worships  Him,  saying,    '  Lord,  if  thou 
wilt,  thou  canst  make  me  clean.'      And  Jesus  puts 
forth  His   hand  and  touches  him,  saying,  'I  will, 
be  thou    clean;'    and   immediately   his   leprosy  is 
cleansed.      They  bring   unto   Him   many  that  are 
possessed  with  devils,  and  He  casts  out  the  spirits 
with  His  word,  and  heals  all  that  are  sick.     He 
speaks  the  word  only,  and  the  centurion's  servant  is 
healed.     There  arises  a  great  tempest  in  the  sea, 
and  His  disciples  come  to  Him,  saying,  'Lord,  save 
us  ; '  and  He  arises  and  rebukes  the  winds  and  the 
sea,  and  there  is  a  great  calm.      The  publicans  and 
sinners,  the  morally  sick,  come  and  sit  down  with 
Him,  and   He   receives   them   as   their   physician, 


OF   OUR   LORD  97 

summons  one  of  them  from  the  receipt  of  custom, 
and  transforms  him  into  an  Apostle  and  Evangelist. 
He  heals  the  blind,  and  raises  the  dead,  until  the 
multitudes  exclaim,  '  It  was  never  so  seen  in  Israel.' 
This  is  the  one  harmonious  and  glorious  picture 
which  is  presented  by  our  Lord  in  His  combined 
work  of  teaching  and  healing.  To  arouse  in  us  a 
longing  for  all  perfection,  and  by  His  supernatural 
might  to  bestow  it  upon  all  faithful  hearty  these 
are  His  two-fold  offices,  equally  characteristic  of 
Him,  equally  necessary  for  us. 

We  have,  in  these  days  more  particularly,  to 
beware  of  allowing  this  complete  image  of  our 
Lord  to  be  marred  by  any  tendency  to  throw  His 
miraculous  works  in  the  back-ground,  or  to  draw 
any  veil  over  them.  Our  chief  privilege,  in  our 
weakness,  ignorance,  and  corruption,  is  to  believe 
that  we  have  this  Almighty  Saviour  ever  at  our 
side,  and  that  we  can  trust  Him  to  protect  us,  to 
cleanse  us,  to  deliver  us  from  evil,  as  really  as 
those  among  whom  He  lived  when  upon  earth. 
The  preciousness  of  these  narratives  to  ourselves 
depends  upon  their  being  an  exhibition  of  the  re- 
lation in  which  we  ourselves  stand  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  in  which  He  stands  to  us.  When 
we  recite  the  creed,  we  are  not,  as  is  sometimes  in- 
sinuated, asserting  mere  abstract  dogmas  respecting 
the  nature  of  the  Godhead,  but  are  renewing  and 


98  THE    MIEACLES 

refreshing  the  blessed  belief  that  the  Lord  Jesus, 
who  is  here  described  to  us  as  preaching  the  Gospel 
of  the  Kingdom,  and  healing  every  sickness  and 
every  disease  among  the  people,  is  the  same  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  for  ever ;  that,  as  God,  He  is  ever 
with  us ;  that  He  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  commanding,  for  our  sakes,  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  by  His  Spirit  ever  working 
among  us,  to  deliver  us  from  our  sins  and  evils. 

But  we  know  too  well  the  objections  which  are 
raised  against  such  a  belief.  Where,  it  is  asked, 
are  the  evidences  of  the  Saviour's  interpositions  in 
the  affairs  of  ordinary  life,  in  the  natural  course  of 
physical  existence?  Miraculous  signs,  such  as  those 
recorded  in  the  Gospels,  are  no  longer  exhibited 
among  us,  and  how  are  we  to  believe  in  a  constant 
personal  action  which  is  not  open  to  our  perception? 
Now,  the  first  and  most  direct  reply  to  such  ob- 
jections was  anticipated  by  the  Centurion,  whose 
signal  display  of  faith  is  recorded  in  the  text 
as  having  aroused  our  Lord's  admiration.  He 
realized,  from  his  experience  of  the  methods  of 
action  in  human  affairs,  that  there  was  no  occasion, 
for  the  purpose  of  our  Lord's  intervention,  of  any 
extraordinary  and  conspicuous  manifestation.  If  he, 
a  man  under  authority,  yet  had  soldiers  under  him, 
and  could  say  to  this  man,  Go,  and  he  goeth ;  and 
to  another,  Come,  and  he  cometh ;  and  to  his  servant, 


OF   OUR  LORD  99 

Do  this,  and  he  doeth  it ;  our  Lord  had  but  to  speak 
the  word  to  those  natural  elements  of  which  He 
was  the  creator  and  master,  and  His  will  would  be 
surely,  though  it  might  be  silently,  executed. 

But  the  excellence  of  the  Centurion's  faith  in  this 
respect  deserves  a  more   particular  consideration, 
and  it  will  be  more  apparent  by  contrast  with  two 
opposite  states  of  mind.     The  contrast  to  it  which 
our  Lord  chiefly  encountered  was  the  peculiar  dis- 
position of  the  Jews,  who,  except  they  saw  signs 
and  wonders,  would  not   believe.     They  fully  re- 
cognized the  existence  of  a  Divine  Power  possessing 
command  over  all  the  forces  of  nature ;   but  they 
would  not  believe  in  our  Lord's  ability  to  exert  it, 
or   in    His  readiness  to  aid  them,  unless  it  were 
manifested  by  some  signal  and  extraordinary  means. 
But  there  is  another  state  of  mind,  akin  to  this  in 
reality,  and  yet  contrasted  with  it,  which  is  preva- 
lent at  the  present    day.      The   form  of    unbelief 
which  we  have  to  encounter — and  to  encounter  in 
ourselves,  no  doubt,  as  well  as  in  others — is  not  one 
which   craves   for   startling   and   overpowering  in- 
stances of  divine  interposition,  but  one  which  doubts 
the  reality  of  personal  interposition  at  all,  on  the 
part  of  God,  in  the  course  of  nature  and  in  human 
life.     To  the  Jews  that  interposition  had,  so  to  say, 
become  so  common  and  familiar  an  idea  that  they 
thought  nothing  of  it,  and  scarcely  regarded  it  as 

H  2 


100  THE   MIEACLES 

specially  concerning  them,  unless  it  were  exhibited 
in  some  exceptional  form.  To  many  among  our- 
selves, on  the  other  hand,  the  idea  has  become  so 
unfamiliar  that  we  find  a  difficulty  in  applying  it  to 
every-day  life ;  and  because  we  see  no  signs  and 
wonders,  we,  too,  do  not  believe.  Starting  in  the 
opposite  direction,  we  have  come  round  to  the  same 
point  as  the  Jews.  Modern  thought  is  absorbed 
and  fascinated  by  the  contemplation  of  the  order  of 
nature  and  the  constancy  of  its  methods.  Fixing  its 
attention,  almost  exclusively,  on  the  impersonal 
part  of  nature,  it  fails  to  penetrate  to  the  persona- 
lity behind  ;  and  thus — even,  it  is  to  be  feared,  to 
many  true  Christian  hearts — the  intense  conviction 
expressed  in  the  Psalms  of  the  living  God  being 
present  with  us,  and  directly  acting  upon  us  in 
every  moment  of  our  existence,  controlling  for  us 
every  circumstance  of  our  lives,  and  ordering  all 
that  concerns  ourselves  and  others,  and  the  course 
of  the  world  at  large,  in  accordance  with  His  will, 
with  His  approval  and  disapproval,  and  with  His 
own  spiritual  purposes — this  realization  of  the  per- 
sonal presence  and  action  of  the  living  God — in 
many  cases,  alas  !  absolutely  denied  and  excluded— 
is,  it  is  to  be  feared,  in  many  others  grievously 
enfeebled. 

Now,  that  which   forms   the   great   and  abiding 
wonder  of  the  faith  of  the  Centurion  is  that,  by  one 


OF   OUR  LORD  101 

simple  observation,  he  supplies  the  conclusive  and 
permanent  answer  to  all  these  doubts  and  denials. 
As  Luther  puts  it,  with  his  usual  vividness,  '  This 
heathen  soldier  turns  theologian,  and  begins  to  dis- 
pute in  as  fine  and  Christian-like  a  manner  as 
would  suffice  for  a  man  who  had  been  many  years 
Doctor  of  Divinity.'  He  cuts  the  knot  at  once,  by 
that  bold  reasoning  by  analogy  from  man  to  God, 
of  which  our  Lord's  teaching  is  so  full,  and  which  is 
involved  in  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Gospel, 
such  as  the  Divine  Fatherhood  and  the  forgiveness 
of  sins.  He  says,  simply,  that  the  kind  of  action 
which  men  exhibit  must  be  possible  for  God.  It  is 
impossible  for  Him  to  be  more  restricted  in  His 
action  than  His  creatures ;  and  if  they  are  able,  by 
subordinate  agencies,  to  carry  out  their  will,  and  to 
modify,  by  the  interposition  of  that  will,  what  would 
otherwise  be  the  natural  course  of  events,  it  is  in- 
conceivable that  it  should  be  impossible  for  Him  to 
do  the  same. 

The  force  of  this  argument  should  be  vastly 
enhanced  to  us  by  that  development  of  science 
and  civilization  which  has  been  produced  since 
the  Centurion's  time,  and  which  is  sometimes  un- 
gratefully used  to  obscure  its  truth.  Let  us 
realize  how,  in  the  present  day,  a  single  human 
will,  at  the  centre  of  a  great  nation,  or,  rather,  of  a 
great  empire  like  this,  can  make  itself  obeyed  to 


102  THE   MIKACLES 

the  very  extremities  of  the  world,  by  means  of  a 
subtle  electrical  current,  scarcely  perceptible  to  the 
touch,  and  during  a  great  part  of  its  course  buried 
in  obscurity  under  vast  oceans;  and  with  what 
reason  can  it  be  denied  that  the  Creator  of  all  these 
subtle  forces,  in  whose  hands  they  all  lie,  can 
silently  modify,  by  an  act  of  His  will,  the  course  of 
any  event  in  His  universe,  and  that  He  can  say  to 
His  servants,  as  we  to  ours,  Do  this,  and  it  is  done  ? 
When  we,  with  our  utterly  imperfect  knowledge, 
can  so  modify  the  action  of  natural  forces  as  to 
neutralize  a  disease  by  a  little  counter  poison,  or 
revivify  the  nervous  forces  of  life  by  galvanic  cur- 
rents, must  it  not  seem  the  height  of  all  unreason  to 
deny  an  infinitely  superior,  and  at  the  same  time, 
infinitely  more  mysterious  and  invisible  capacity,  to 
Him  who  created  at  once  these  forces,  and  the 
human  brain  which  makes  use  of  them?  The 
simple  principle,  in  a  word,  to  which  the  Centurion 
appeals  may  be  stated  in  our  more  scientific  way,  by 
saying  that  whatever  forces  there  are  in  nature, 
must  reside  within  the  maker  of  nature,  only  in  an 
infinitely  enhanced  degree ;  and  the  point  on 
which  it  is  more  especially  necessary  to  insist  in 
applying  this  principle,  is  that  which  the  Centurion 
grasped — namely,  that  the  powers  of  man,  of  man's 
intellect  and  will,  must,  above  all  things,  be  re- 
garded as  an  example  of  one  form  of  the  divine 


OF   OUR  LORD  103 

action.  The  kind  of  things  which  man  can  do,  God 
can  certainly  do ;  and  if  modern  men  of  science  can 
modify  the  operation  of  nature  by  methods  which, 
to  men  not  so  scientific,  would  be  incomprehensible, 
and  even  invisible,  certainly  God  can  modify  nature 
and  control  it  by  means  which,  even  to  men  of 
science,  are  similarly  incomprehensible  and  invisible. 
There  seems,  in  fact,  to  lurk  an  extraordinary 
sophism  in  the  offence  which  is  taken  at  so-called 
anthropomorphism.  Men  observe  the  operation  of 
the  inanimate  forces  of  nature,  and  deduce  from 
them  the  methods  of  God's  operation.  There,  they 
will  say,  you  observe  the  course  of  His  action ;  and 
you  notice  its  absolute  regularity,  and  the  absence 
of  any  indication  that  we  can  detect  of  its  distur- 
bance by  persona]  action  and  will.  But  the  moment 
the  moralist,  or  the  theologian,  points  to  another 
sphere  of  nature — that  of  human  nature,  which  is 
nature  still— and  argues  from  it  in  a  similar  man- 
ner, regarding  it  as  a  revelation  of  part,  at  all 
events,  of  God's  method  of  action,  we  are  denounced 
as  anthropomorphic.  Be  it  so.  But  what  is  the 
scientific  conception  but — if  I  may  be  allowed  to 
coin  the  word— physico-morphisni  ?  They  see  the 
likeness  and  reflection  of  God  in  nature ;  we  see  the 
image  and  reflection  of  God  in  man ;  and  why  not 
the  one  as  well  as  the  other?  The  corruption  of 
our  moral  nature  creates,  indeed,  a  gulf  between  us 


104  THE  MIRACLES 

and  Him.  But  considered  from  the  point  of  view 
of  a  physical  philosopher,  man  is  not  only  a  part  of 
nature,  but  the  highest  and  most  completely  de- 
veloped part.  By  all  means  let  us  learn  all  that 
natural  philosophers  can  tell  us  of  the  Divine 
nature,  and  methods,  and  power,  from  the  inanimate 
and  irrational  creation ;  but  let  them  not  refuse  to 
take  into  account  what  we  can  tell  them,  or  rather 
what  their  own  hearts  can  tell  them,  respecting 
God's  nature,  His  power  and  the  method  of  His 
action,  as  exhibited  in  the  mind  and  will  of  man. 
You  discern  in  nature  an  order  which,  in  some  sense, 
is  immutable ;  and  if  you  admit  a  Divine  mind  at 
all,  you  attribute  a  similar  order,  and  a  similar 
immutability,  to  that  mind.  Then  let  us  argue  in 
the  same  way  from  our  own  nature ;  and  if  we  see 
the  very  noblest  expressions  of  human  nature  in 
our  love,  our  hatred,  our  wrath,  our  mercy,  our  re- 
pentance, our  forgiveness,  let  us  acknowledge,  on  the 
same  principle,  that  these  also  are  a  reflex,  however 
faint,  of  Divine  perfections,  and  let  us  not  shrink  from 
recognizing,  in  the  language  of  the  Scriptures,  that 
the  Creator  of  those  emotions  loves  and  hates,  and 
is  wrathful  and  merciful,  and  repents  and  forgives. 
And  if  we  hold  in  our  hands  a  vast  complexity  of 
agencies,  human,  animal,  physical,  chemical,  which 
come  as  we  bid  them  come,  and  go  as  we  bid  them 
go,  in  accordance,  not  with  any  immutable  order  of 


OF   OUR   LORD  105 

external  nature,  but  in  obedience  to  our  intel- 
lectual designs  and  moral  intentions,  to  fulfil  our 
love  or  our  enmity,  our  justice  or  our  mercy,  with 
what  reason  can  we  doubt  that  He  too — but  with  a 
completeness,  an  invisibleness,  a  continuousness,  a 
supremacy,  of  which  we  have  no  conception — is 
controlling  every  physical  element,  and  every  cir- 
cumstance which  surrounds  us  ?  Argue  from  nature 
exclusive  of  man,  and  you  may  acquiesce  in  the 
hard  mechanical  views  which  alone  it  suggests  to 
you.  Argue  from  nature  with  man,  and  man's 
actions,  and  man's  will,  included  within  it,  and  you 
will  agree  with  Luther  that  the  Centurion  was  a 
great  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

In  short,  any  objections  against  the  daily  moral 
interposition  of  a  Divine  will  in  the  course  of  nature, 
on  the  ground  of  the  immutability  of  physical  laws 
and  of  their  action,  is  equally,  as  is  now  candidly 
confessed,  an  argument  against  the  independent 
personal  action  of  a  human  will.  Man's  body,  in 
all  its  functions,  is  a  part  of  the  whole  sum  of  nature. 
It  enters  the  sphere  in  which  all  the  laws  of  physical 
nature  work.  It  is  subject  to  the  law  of  the  con- 
servation of  force,  and  to  every  other  physical  con- 
sideration by  which  personal  divine  will  is  supposed 
to  be  excluded.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  this,  and  side 
by  side  with  it,  we  are  all  acting  on  each  other  by 
moral  forces ;  our  physical  actions  are  prompted  by 


106  THE   MIRACLES 

moral  motives,  by  intellectual  designs,  by  deter- 
minations of  will.  But  this,  it  is  sometimes  replied, 
is  an  illusion.  You  seem  to  have  a  free  will ;  but 
you  have  not ;  you  are  a  link  in  the  chain  of  causa- 
tion, and  your  apparent  morality  is  a  physical  pro- 
duct. For  the  purposes  of  such  an  argument  as 
the  present,  this  is  a  mere  dispute  about  words. 
Let  your  will,  your  love,  your  intellect,  be  what  you 
please.  All  the  theologian  is  concerned  to  main- 
tain is  that  the  Divine  will,  the  Divine  love,  the 
Divine  wisdom,  can  act  and  does  act,  in  a  similar 
manner ;  and  that  if  we  say  to  one  subordinate 
agent,  from  moral  motives,  and  for  moral  purposes, 
Go,  and  it  goeth,  and  to  another,  Come,  and  it 
cometh,  and  to  our  servants,  Do  this,  and  they  do 
it,  our  Creator,  the  source  and  eternal  strength  of 
all  these  powers,  is  perpetually  employing  in  a 
similar  manner,  and  for  similar  motives — albeit 
with  an  exaltation  of  their  character  far  beyond  our 
conceptions — the  innumerable  agencies  which  are 
under  His  command. 

It  follows  from  considerations  such  as  these  that 
it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  see  conspicuous  instances 
of  supernatural  operations  around  us,  in  order  to  be 
assured  that,  in  the  words  of  our  office  for  the  visi- 
tation of  the  sick,  '  Almighty  God  is  the  Lord  of 
life  and  death,  and  of  all  things  to  them  pertaining, 
as  youth,  strength,  health,  age,  weakness,  and  sick- 


OP  OUR  LORD  107 

ness;'  so  that  whatever  may  befall  us,  the  one 
thing  we  may  '  know  certainly '  is,  that  'it  is 
God's  visitation.'  But  still,  some  one  may  repeat, 
we  do  not  see  it ;  we  discern  no  traces  of  this 
personal  action  by  the  unseen  God.  And  because 
we  do  not  see  it — we,  with  our  limited  perceptions ; 
we,  who  are  conscious  that  we  are  but  on  the  thresh- 
old of  the  mysteries  of  nature ;  we,  who  cannot 
so  much  as  foresee  a  snow-storm  the  day  before  it 
arrives — are  we  to  conclude  from  this  incapacity 
of  vision  to  a  limitation  of  the  action  of  Him,  '  who 
giveth  snow  like  wool,  who  scattereth  the  hoar 
frost  like  ashes ;  who  casteth  forth  His  ice  like 
morsels ;  who  can  stand  before  His  cold  ?  who 
sendeth  out  His  word  and  melteth  them?  who 
causeth  His  wind  to  blow  and  the  waters  flow  ? ' 
We  may,  as  a  rule,  not  see  it.  That  divine  inter- 
position is  mysterious,  and  often  impenetrable. 
But  this,  at  least,  must  be  said  on  this  point — there 
are  some  things  apparent  to  those  who  have  eyes 
to  see  and  hearts  to  understand,  which  will  not 
force  themselves  upon  the  attention  of  those  who 
are  indifferent  to  them,  or  prejudiced  against  them ; 
and  in  this  matter,  similarly,  the  faithful  Christian 
has  eyes  to  see  things  which  are  often  obscure  to 
those  who  are  destitute  of  his  faith ;  and  they  are 
none  the  less  realities  because  others  cannot  perceive 
them.  To  many  a  faithful  and  thoughtful  heart 


108  THE   MIRACLES 

the  experience  of  life  is  a  strong  confirmation  of 
the  assurance  that  the  Saviour  has  been  at  its  side, 
shielding  it  in  many  a  critical  moment  of  life  from 
the  dangers  with  which  it  was  threatened,  ensuring 
that  it  should  not  be  tempted  above  that  which  it 
was  able  to  bear,  and  with  every  temptation  making 
a  way  of  escape.  In  many  moments  of  serious  and 
humble  reflection  on  the  past,  the  reality  of  such 
interpositions  will  come  home  to  the  soul.  We 
recognize — we  feel  forced  with  profound  gratitude 
to  recognize — glimpses  of  the  Divine  hand,  shield- 
ing us  by  a  touch,  which  was  at  the  time  imper- 
ceptible, from  some  terrible  moral  or  physical 
calamity.  Keverent  and  faithful  souls,  who  walk 
through  the  world  with  the  consciousness  that  the 
Saviour  is  at  their  side,  are  often  vouchsafed,  as  the 
Scriptures  and  the  records  of  the  Church  bear 
witness,  such  apprehensions  of  His  presence,  and 
learn  more  and  more  to  look  up  to  Him  with  the 
trust  of  experience,  as  well  as  of  faith.  Such  ex- 
periences may  not  be  arguments  for  convincing 
unbelievers,  though  they  are  certainly  facts  which 
have  a  claim  to  be  taken  into  account.  But  they 
are,  at  least,  strong  encouragements  and  assurances 
to  the  faithful ;  and  perhaps  we  ought  to  ask  our- 
selves whether,  especially  in  times  like  the  present, 
we  are  not  called  upon  to  divest  ourselves,  more 
frequently  than  we  are  wont,  of  the  reserve — or  is 


OF   OUK   LORD  109 

it  the  timidity — which  clings  to  us,  and  to  join  more 
openly,  and  more  boldly,  in  the  language  of  the 
Psalmist,  — '  0  bless  our  God,  ye  people,  and  make 
the  voice  of  His  praise  to  be  heard  ;  which  holdeth 
our  soul  in  life,  and  suffereth  not  our  feet  to  be 
moved.  .  .  .  Come  and  hear,  all  ye  that  fear  God,  and 
I  will  declare   what   He   hath  done   for  my   soul. 
Verily,  God  hath  heard  me ;  He  hath  attended  to 
the  voice  of  my  prayer.     Blessed  be  God,  who  hath 
not  turned  away  my  prayer,  nor  His  mercy  from  me.' 
But  there  remains  another  observation,  more  open 
to  ordinary  criticism,  with  which  it  is  important  to 
conclude  any  consideration  of  this  subject,  and  which 
is  naturally  suggested  by  a  review  of  this  portion  of 
St.  Matthew's  Gospel.     This  is,  that  we  observe  clear 
indications,  alike  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and 
in  the  records  of  the  miracles  themselves,  that  the 
natural  order  of  the  Saviour's  working  is  not  so  much 
directly  upon  the  bodies  of  men  and  their  physical 
circumstances,  as  upon  their  spirits,  and  that  His 
physical    miracles    were    designed    to    lead    their 
thoughts  to  His  spiritual  power,  and  thus  to  ensure 
the  regeneration  of  their  lower  nature  by  means  of 
their  higher.     Our  Lord  expressly  points  to  this  use 
of  His  miracles  in  the  case  of  His  cure  of  the  sick  of 
the  palsy,  which  is  recorded  in  the  midst  of  this  col- 
lection of  His  works  of  power,  at  the  commencement 
of  St.  Matthew's  ninth  chapter.     '  He  said  unto  the 


110  THE   MIRACLES 

sick  of  the  palsy,  Son,  be  of  good  cheer ;  thy  sins 
be  forgiven  thee ; '  and  when  '  certain  of  the  Scribes 
said  within  themselves,  This  man  blasphemeth,' 
Jesus,  '  knowing  their  thoughts,  said,  Wherefore 
think  ye  evil  in  your  hearts?  For  whether  is 
easier ;  to  say,  Thy  sins  be  forgiven  thee ;  or  to  say, 
Arise  and  walk  ?  But  that  ye  may  know  that  the 
Son  of  Man  hath  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins,  (then 
saith  He  to  the  sick  of  the  palsy,)  Arise,  take  up  thy 
bed,  and  go  unto  thine  house.'  The  ultimate  pur- 
pose of  that  miracle,  therefore,  was  to  lead  those 
before  whom  it  was  wrought  to  look  to  the  same  gra- 
cious hand  for  the  invisible,  but  still  supernatural, 
grace  of  spiritual  forgiveness  and  moral  regeneration. 
He  who  could  command  a  physical  miracle,  and 
prove  His  power  by  instantly  effecting  it,  might  be 
appealed  to  with  confidence  for  the  still  higher 
miracles  of  the  spiritual  sphere. 

But  in  thus  pointing  men  above  the  physical  to 
the  spiritual,  our  Lord,  as  has  just  been  observed,  is 
acting  in  full  harmony  with  His  teaching  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount.  It  is  through  righteousness 
that  He  teaches  His  disciples  to  seek  for  the  blessings 
of  this  life.  '  Take,'  He  says,  '  no  thought,  saying, 
What  shall  we  eat?  or,  What  shall  we  drink?  or, 
Wherewithal  shall  we  be  clothed  ?  (For  after  all 
these  things  do  the  Gentiles  seek :)  for  your  heavenly 
Father  knoweth  that  ye  have  need  of  all  these 


OF   OUR   LORD  111 

things.  But  seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
His  righteousness;  and  all  these  things  shall  be 
added  unto  you.'  This  exhortation  may  be  applied 
with  eminent  instruction  to  the  subsequent  exercise 
of  our  Lord's  saving  power,  first  in  His  ministry, 
and  afterwards  in  the  history  of  His  Church.  His 
miracles,  here  recorded,  were  wrought  during  the 
darkest  hours  of  human  nature,  at  the  time  of  its 
deepest  despair,  to  awaken  men's  faith,  and  to  lead 
them  to  trust  Him  for  deliverance.  But  it  was  in 
strict  conformity  with  the  constitution  of  their  nature, 
and  with  His  highest  designs  for  their  good,  that 
this  saving  work  should  for  the  most  part  be  directed 
to  their  spiritual  deliverance ;  and  that  He  should, 
as  it  were,  lead  them  to  work  out  their  physical  eal- 
vation  by  means  of  their  moral.  It  is  by  moral  evil 
that  physical  evil  has  been  brought  upon  us ;  and 
could  we  be  delivered  from  moral  evil,  we  should  be 
saved  from  physical. 

It  is  contrary,  in  fact,  to  all  the  analogy  of  God's 
dealings,  in  nature  and  in  grace  alike,  to  excuse 
us  from  the  due  exercise,  to  the  utmost  of  our 
powers,  of  our  natural  faculties.  During  His  stay 
on  earth,  He  took  us,  as  it  were,  by  the  hand, 
and  placed  us  in  the  right  path,  and  He  has 
since  been  training  us  in  all  the  ways  of  spiritual, 
moral,  intellectual,  and  physical  truth.  Undoubtedly 
the  physical  condition  of  mankind  has  been  vastly 


112  THE   MIRACLES 

ameliorated,  and  is  being  daily  more  and  more  ame- 
liorated, by  the  elevation  of  their  moral  nature 
through  the  Gospel,  and  through  spiritual  grace ;  and 
we  may  well  believe  that  infinite  possibilities  in  this 
respect  still  remain,  which  God  designs  us  to  realize 
in  the  exercise,  under  that  spiritual  influence,  of 
our  natural  powers.  He  would  have  us  exert  our- 
selves in  all  ways  to  the  utmost,  according  to  His 
own  lesson  in  one  of  His  miracles,  '  Gathering  up 
the  fragments  that  nothing  be  lost.'  But  what  a 
supreme  blessing  to  be  assured  that  He  is  ever  with 
us,  to  bless  and  to  complete  every  effort  that  we 
can  make !  The  law  laid  down  by  the  Apostle 
applies  to  our  whole  career.  God  will  not  protect 
us  from  all  temptatioD,  nor  deliver  us  at  one  stroke 
from  the  evils  which  we  have  brought  upon  our- 
selves. But  He  is  ever  near,  as  with  the  disciples 
in  the  storm,  to  ensure  that  we  shall  not  be  over- 
whelmed ;  He  '  is  faithful,  and  will  not  suffer  us  to 
be  tempted  above  that  we  are  able,  but  will  with 
the  temptation  also  make  a  way  to  escape,  that  we 
may  be  able  to  bear  it.'  Under  His  guidance,  and 
with  His  aid,  a  way  of  deliverance  from  all  evils  is 
ever  open  to  us.  If  we  have  failed  to  realize  it,  let 
us  ask  ourselves  how  far  we  have  appealed  to  Him 
with  the  faith  which  is  exhibited  in  those  examples 
of  His  saving  power  which  St.  Matthew  here  brings 
before  us.  The  rule  of  His  working  has  ever  been, 


OF   OUR   LORD  113 

'  As  thou  hast  believed,  so  be  it  done  unto  thee.'  All 
things — all  things  necessary  for  our  spiritual  health, 
and  for  our  physical  welfare  also,  so  far  as  the  latter 
is  compatible  with  the  former — are  still,  as  ever,  pos- 
sible to  him  that  believeth  ;  and  let  us  pray,  at  the 
conclusion  of  such  meditations,  '  Lord,  I  believe, 
help  thou  mine  unbelief.' 


THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH  OF  OUK  LORD 

''  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in 
His  blood,  to  declare  His  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins  that 
are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God  ;  to  declare,  I  say,  at  this 
time  His  righteousness :  that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier  of 
him  which  believeth  in  Jesus." — Rom.  iii.  25,  26. 

THE  history  of  our  Saviour's  Passion  is  a  subject 
which  must  be  approached  at  any  time  with  feelings 
of  deep  apprehension  ;  and  we  must  above  all  things 
feel  reluctant  to  bring  its  sacred  and  solemn  asso- 
ciations into  connexion  with  discussions  which  have 
anything  of  a  controversial  nature.  At  the  same 
time  it  would  be  impracticable  to  form  a  just  view 
of  the  general  character  of  the  Gospel  narratives 
without  considering  that  history,  were  it  only  in 
consequence  of  the  large  space  in  them  which  it 
occupies.  On  an  average,  the  narrative  of  the 
Passion  occupies  not  less  than  one-tenth  of  the 
four  Gospels,  while  of  the  rest  of  St.  John's  Gospel, 
a  great  portion  may  be  said  to  lead  up  to  it.  The 
character,  therefore,  of  the  evangelical  narratives 


THE   PASSION  AND   DEATH   OF   OUR   LORD        115 

on  this  subject  must  go  very  far  to  determine  their 
general  credibility,  and  must  afford  no  inadequate 
measure  of  the  power  with  which  they  have  appre- 
hended and  presented  to  us  the  essential  elements 
of  our  Lord's  life  and  work. 

Now  it  is  very  remarkable,  from  this  point  of 
view,  that  there  is  practically  no  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  the  credibility,  in  all  substantial 
points,  of  this  momentous  portion  of  the  story  of 
the  Gospels.  Thus  Dr.  Hase,  already  referred  to 
as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  and  venerable  of 
the  theologians  of  Germany,  and  sufficiently  ration- 
alistic to  hold  very  sceptical  conclusions  as  to  our 
Lord's  Kesurrection  and  Ascension,  says  that  in 
respect  of  this  period  of  our  Lord's  life,  all  four 
Gospels  go  side  by  side  with  each  other,  and 
exhibit  in  their  variations  only  the  various  sides  and 
conceptions  of  the  same  occurrence ;  and  that  up  to 
the  hour  of  our  Lord's  death,  all  is  narrated  with 
the  particularity  with  which  men  are  wont  to  pre- 
serve the  memory  of  the  last  moments  of  a  beloved 
and  great  man.*  This  result  is  the  more  remarkable 
because  there  are  some  real  difficulties  in  point  of 
chronological  harmony  in  this  part  of  the  narrative, 
as,  for  instance,  with  respect  to  the  evening  on 
which  the  Lord's  Supper  was  instituted.  But  it  is 


*  Geschichte  Jesu,  §  92,  p.  525;  Leipzig,  1876. 

I  2 


116    .     THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

felt  that  the  narrative  in  each  Gospel  bears  the 
most  unmistakeable  marks  of  truth,  and  that  no 
such  difficulties  of  detail,  which  are  probably  only 
due  to  our  own  ignorance  of  some  reconciling  facts, 
can  affect  their  authority. 

In  fact,  by  a  sort  of  unconscious  agreement,  how- 
ever men  may  dispute  the  truth  of  other  parts  of 
the  Gospels,  they  tacitly  assume  the  truth  of  the 
story  of  the  Passion;  and  among  unbelievers,  no 
less  than  believers,  Jesus  Christ  is  regarded  as 
having  suffered  the  martyrdom  which  the  evangelists 
describe,  and  as  having  suffered  it  for  the  reasons 
which  they  allege.  It  would  seem  there  is  some- 
thing in  the  intense  reality  of  the  narrative  which 
compels  belief,  and  makes  men  feel  instinctively 
that  the  narrators  are  telling  the  simple  and  terrible 
truth.  The  perfect  simplicity  of  the  narration,  and 
yet  its  revelation  of  depths  of  sorrow  and  suffering, 
and  at  the  same  time  of  the  loftiest  truth  and 
majesty,  in  our  Lord — all  this  is  felt,  and  is  practi- 
cally confessed,  to  be  beyond  the  power  of  any 
invention.  The  absence  of  a  single  false  note,  of  a 
word  or  a  comment,  inconsistent  with  the  awful 
character  of  the  scene,  compels  men  to  acknowledge 
that  they  are  in  the  presence  of  absolute  realities. 

There  is  one  other  mark  of  complete  sincerity 
and  truthfulness  in  the  narration  which  deserves 
particular  attention,  and  which  has  been  forcibly 


OF  OUR  LORD  117 

dwelt  upon  by  the  eminent  French  preacher,  M. 
Bersier,  in  his  great  sermon  on  the  testimony  of 
the  Apostles.*  These  narratives,  as  we  have  seen, 
are  written  by  Apostles,  or  by  friends  of  Apostles, 
and  the  writers  do  not  shrink  from  describing  their 
own  conduct,  or  that  of  their  masters,  as  of  a 
character  which  nothing  but  an  absolute  submission 
to  truth  could  have  induced  them  to  confess.  They 
frankly  acknowledge,  as  M.  Bersier  observes, 'that 
at  the  supreme  hour  of  their  Master's  fate,  they 
trembled  like  children  and  cowards.  '  They  confess 
that  when  their  Master,  who  had  never  ceased  to 
love  them,  and  to  bless  them  with  a  divine  tender- 
ness, had  been  betrayed  by  one  of  themselves,  and 
led  before  His  judges,  they  all  forsook  him  and 
fled  ;  and  that  the  very  one  of  them  who  had  sworn 
to  remain  faithful  to  Him,  denied  Him  three  times 
at  the  challenge  of  a  servant-maid.  Without  taking 
any  notice  of  the  scandal  and  disgrace  of  such  a 
story,  they  relate  it  in  full  detail,  without  omitting 
a  word.  They  were  about  to  proclaim  to  the  world 
the  cross  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  point  men  to 
it  as  the  means  of  salvation;  and  yet  they  dare 
to  acknowledge  that,  at  the  hour  when  that  c 
was  erected,  they  deserted  it  like  cowards,  leaving 
to  weak  women  the  honour  of  attending  their 

*  Sermons,  par  E.  Bersier ;  Tomevi.,  LeTtmoignagedes  Aj 
pp.  50-53. 


118         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

Master  in  His  agony,  leaving  to  a  robber  tbe 
honour  of  being  the  first  to  announce  the  eternal 
royalty  of  the  Crucified,  just  as  three  days  after- 
wards Mary  Magdalen  was  allowed  the  honour  of 
bjing  the  first  to  proclaim  the  triumph  of  the  risen 
Christ.'  If  there  is  something  amazing  in  the 
rigid  truthfulness  which  confessed  all  these  lament- 
able facts,  it  establishes  for  the  narrators  a  claim 
for  the  most  ample  trust  when  recording  events  of  a 
more  welcome  character. 

Indeed,  apart  from  the  evidence  of  sincerity 
afforded  by  these  confessions  of  the  Apostles  re- 
specting themselves,  it  is  sufficiently  remarkable 
that  they  should  have  preserved  with'  such  fulness 
the  story  of  their  Master's  humiliation.  Christ 
crucified  was,  we  are  told  by  St.  Paul,  *  unto  the  Jews 
a  stumbling-block,  and  unto  the  Greeks  foolishness.' 
It  was  a  constant  reproach  to  Christians  that  they 
worshipped  a  man  who  had  been  crucified  as  a 
malefactor.  The  main  fact,  of  course,  could  not  be 
disguised.  But  that  the  evangelical  writers  should 
have  so  diligently  preserved  what  might  otherwise 
have  been  forgotten — all  the  minute  circumstances 
of  their  Master's  humiliation,  the  very  weakness  of 
His  flesh,  and  His  shrinking,  in  the  garden,  from 
the  cup  He  had  to  drink,  all  those  marks,  in  fact, 
of  His  human  weakness  which  were  obliterated  by 
His  resurrection — this  is  an  instance  of  truthfulness 


OF   OUR   LORD  119 

\vbicli  seems  at  least  incompatible  with  any  legen- 
dary origin  of  the  narratives,  at  a  time  when  our 
Lord  was  contemplated  in  the  glory  of  His  ascen- 
sion, and  of  His  session  at  the  right  hand  of  God. 
But  whatever  impression  of  truthfulness,  and  of 
intense  reality  in  detail,  is  thus  created  by  the 
history  of  the  Passion,  must  in  justice  be  allowed 
to  reflect  back  over  the  whole  preceding  history. 
To  accept,  as  many  persons  seem  unconsciously  to  do, 
the  story  of  Christ's  Passion,  forming  so  considerable 
and  important  a  part  of  the  whole  Gospel,  as  pro- 
foundly true,  and  yet  to  deal  with  the  remainder  as 
open  to  the  most  unsparing  suspicion,  is  not,  it  would 
seem,  a  proceeding  that  can  be  reasonably  justified. 
The  story  of  our  Lord's  death  has  established  a  claim 
to  be  accepted  as  a  truthful  record  of  the  most  solemn 
event  in  the  world's  history ;  and  the  four  witnesses 
by  whom  that  story  is  told,  and  who  are  fully 
agreed  together  respecting  it,  have  for  that  reason 
a  claim  to  be  regarded  as  at  least  among  the  most 
trustworthy  witnesses  to  any  other  historical  facts 
they  may  relate. 

We  may  be  spared,  therefore,  for  our  present 
purpose,  the  ungracious  task  of  critical  discussions 
on  this  topic,  and  may  address  ourselves  to  more 
vital  considerations.  It  has  been  the  purpose  of 
these  Lectures,  not  merely  to  vindicate  the  historic 
credibility  of  the  Gospel  narratives,  but  to  illustrate 


120         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

the  spiritual  and  moral  significance  of  the  leading 
facts  which  they  record;  and  in  no  part  of  our 
subject  are  such  considerations  so  urgently  incum- 
bent upon  us.  As  is  indicated  by  the  space  which 
the  narrative  holds  in  the  Gospels,  the  whole 
mystery  of  our  Lord's  life  and  work  centres  around 
His  Passion.  To  this,  in  fact,  the  history  in  the 
Gospels  points  from  their  commencement.  Our 
Lord's  forerunner  pointed  to  Him  at  the  outset  as 
'  The  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of 
the  world,'  that  is  to  say,  the  sacrificial  victim  who 
should  suffer  for  that  sin,  and  by  whose  death 
it  should  be  done  away.  Similarly,  He  Himself,  at 
the  commencement  of  His  ministry,  in  His  interview 
with  Nicodemus,  proclaimed  this  as  the  essential 
part  of  His  mission.  '  As  Moses  lifted  up  the 
serpent  in  the  wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of 
Man  be  lifted  up :  that  whosoever  believeth  in  Him 
should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting  life.'  At  a 
later  date,  in  the  transfiguration,  when  He  was  for  a 
moment  revealed  to  His  disciples  in  glory,  the  two 
great  prophets  who  appeared  communing  with  Him 
'spake  of  His  decease  which  He  should  accom- 
plish at  Jerusalem.'  The  whole  of  His  ministry, 
in  a  word,  led  up  to  that  death,  and  was  consum- 
mated in  it.  Accordingly,  St.  Paul's  account  of 
His  message  to  the  Corinthians  is  an  exact  summary 
of  the  most  important  part  of  the  Gospel  narrative — 


OF   OUR  LORD  121 

'  I  delivered  unto  you  first  of  all  that  which  I  also 
received,  how  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins  according 
to  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  He  was  buried,  and  that 
He  rose  again  the  third  day  according  to  the  Scrip- 
tures.' The  Creed,  in  passing  so  swiftly  from  His 
birth  to  His  death,  is  thus  in  complete  harmony 
with  His  own  teaching  respecting  His  ministerial 
work. 

This  consideration  has  a  decisive  bearing  upon 
the  attempts  which  have  been  frequently  made, 
especially  of  late  years,  to  exhibit  our  Lord  solely 
as  a  preacher  of  righteousness,  alike  by  word  and 
by  example,  and  to  represent  as  alien  from  His 
teaching  the  prominence  which  is  given  in  the 
Epistles,  particularly  in  those  of  St.  Paul,  to  the 
doctrine,  or  rather  to  the  fact,  of  the  Atonement. 
But  there  is  one  circumstance  singularly  independent 
of  any  critical  debates,  and  resting  on  the  plainest 
historical  evidence,  which  is  more  than  sufficient  to 
refute  such  misconceptions.  That  circumstance  is 
the  institution  of  the  Lord's  Supper.  Alike  from 
the  Evangelists  and  from  St.  Paul,  we  learn  that 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  same  night  in  which 
He  was  betrayed,  instituted  that  sacrament  in  re- 
membrance of  Himself.  It  was  to  be,  as  it  has 
been,  the  central  memorial  of  the  Saviour  and  of  His 
work  for  us  through  all  the  ages  of  the  Christian 
church.  Instituted  at  that  solemn  moment,  and 


122         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

for  this  supreme  object,  it  cannot  but  be  regarded 
as  commemorating  that  peculiar  aspect  of  our 
Lord's  work  which  was  paramount  in  its  importance, 
and  which  it  was  above  all  things  necessary  that 
we  should  ever  bear  in  mind.  And  what  is  this  ? 
Not  His  teaching,  not  His  example,  not  His 
miracles,  nay,  not  even  His  resurrection,  but  His 
death  as  a  sacrifice  for  sin.  In  the  account  of  the 
three  Evangelists  and  of  St.  Paul  of  the  words  He 
used,  there  are  the  slight  variations  of  form  which 
frequently  mark  their  reports,  and  which,  in  com- 
bination with  their  substantial  agreement,  afford 
such  strong  evidence  of  their  independence  and 
truthfulness.  But  this  central  conception  is  men- 
tioned in  all  of  them.  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Mark, 
for  instance,  do  not  mention  that  when  our  Lord 
broke  and  distributed  the  bread  He  said  that  He 
was  about  to  die  for  others  ;  but  they  both  tell  us 
that  when  He  took  the  cup  He  said,  '  This  is  my 
blood  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  shed  for 
many.'  St.  Paul,  on  the  other  hand,  does  not  men- 
tion that  when  our  Lord  took  the  cup  He  said  His 
blood  was  to  be  shed  for  others,  but  he  tells  us  that 
when  our  Lord  took  the  bread  He  said,  'This  is 
my  body,  which  is  broken  for  you.'  St.  Luke 
combines  the  two  accounts,  by  stating  that  our 
Lord  declared  His  death  to  be  a  death  for  others, 
both  when  He  broke  the  bread  and  when  He  gave 


OF   OUR   LORD  123 

the  wine.  '  He  took  bread  and  gave  thanks,  and 
brake  it,  and  gave  unto  them,  saying,  This  is  my 
body,  which  is  given  for  you ;  this  do  in  remem- 
brance of  me.  Likewise  also  the  cup  after  supper, 
saying,  This  cup  is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood, 
which  is  shed  for  you.'  There  could  not  possibly 
have  been  a  more  solemn  declaration  on  our  Lord's 
part  that  the  fact  of  His  having  died  for  our  sins, 
and  to  procure  their  remission,  was  the  one  grand 
truth  respecting  Himself  which  He  desired  to  be 
ever  present  and  ever  prominent  in  the  thoughts  of 
His  people. 

Now,  in  approaching  this  subject,  we  shall  do 
best  to  endeavour,  in  the  first  place,  to  realize 
simply  the  historic  significance  of  the  fact  of  our 
Lord's  Passion.  The  difficulties  which  have  been 
felt  of  late  years  in  apprehending  the  truth  of  the 
Atonement  appear  to  be  in  great  measure  connected 
with  a  feeling  that  there  is  something  arbitrary  and 
artificial  in  the  circumstances  and  conditions  with 
which  it  is  associated.  Probably  some  partial 
expositions  of  the  doctrine  which,  as  a  natural 
consequence  of  our  imperfections,  have  been  from 
time  to  time  put  forward  as  though  they  were  a 
complete  account  of  it,  are  in  great  measure  respon- 
sible for  these  misapprehensions.  It  is  no  wonder, 
indeed,  if  in  their  efforts— efforts  which  they  were 
bound  to  make— to  apprehend  the  profoundest  of  all 


121         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

the  truths  respecting  human  nature  and  its  relation 
to  God,  men  have  fallen  short  of  the  mighty  reality, 
and  have  been  induced  to  take  refuge  in  systems  to 
some  extent  of  their  own  construction,  and  therefore 
more  within  their  compass.  There  is,  to  say  the 
least,  great  peril  in  all  such  attempts.  But  if, 
without  presuming  to  attempt  any  theory  on  the 
subject,  we  concentrate  our  attention  on  the  plain 
and  terrible  realities  of  the  history,  and  on  the 
revelation  which  its  facts  afford  us  of  God  and  of 
Man,  we  may  be  able  to  lay  hold  of  some  of  the 
great  truths  it  exhibits,  with  at  least  sufficient 
clearness  for  the  main  purposes  of  our  spiritual  life. 
Let  us  observe,  then,  in  the  first  place,  the 
momentous  import  of  the  history  of  the  Passion,  as 
exhibiting  historically,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
condition  of  human  nature  at  the  time,  and  our 
Lord's  relation  to  it.  Those  events  cannot  but  be 
regarded,  from  almost  any  point  of  view,  as  affording 
the  most  fearful  exhibition  conceivable  of  the  capa- 
cities of  human  nature  for  evil.  I  say  from  almost 
any  point  of  view,  because  the  main  fact  in  the  case 
is  all  but  universally  admitted.  That  fact  is  the 
perfection,  the  supreme  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty, 
of  our  Lord's  life  and  teaching.  Even  those  who  do 
not  regard  Him  as  divine  rarely  admit  any  excep- 
tion to  His  paramount  claims  in  this  respect.  A 
few  audacious  critics  have,  perhaps,  ventured  to 


OP  OUR   LORD  125 

challenge  some  of  His  utterances  as  too  enthusiastic 
for  the  practical  necessities  of  life;  but  no  such 
criticisms  command  any  general  attention.  He  now 
receives  the  general  homage  of  the  civilized  world, 
as  the  ideal  of  moral  and  spiritual  excellence.  But 
nevertheless,  and  notwithstanding  a  beneficent  public 
ministry  of  about  three  years,  He  was  encountered 
with  the  most  intense  hatred,  and  was  at  length 
loaded  with  every  kind  of  insult,  and  ignominiously 
and  cruelly  put  to  death.  That  human  nature  was 
capable  of  such  conduct  as  this  had,  indeed,  been 
foreseen  by  the  profoundest  philosopher  of  antiquity, 
in  one  of  whose  dialogues  a  comparison  is  drawn 
between  the  fate  of  the  perfectly  just,  and  of  the 
perfectly  unjust,  man.*  Plato  there  maintains  that 
while  the  perfectly  unjust  man  would  enjoy  every 
worldly  honour,  the  just  man  '  will  be  scourged, 
racked,  bound,  have  his  eyes  put  out,  and  will  at  last 
be  crucified.1  There  are  few,  however,  who  would 
have  regarded  such  a  terrible  suggestion  as  more 
than  a  philosophical  dream,  unless  it  had  been 
actually  verified  in  experience ;  and  now  that  it  has 
been  so  verified,  in  the  fearful  realities  of  our  Lord's 
Passion,  it  must  ever  remain  the  most  amazing  fact 
in  the  history  of  mankind.  The  simplest  evidence 
that  such  a  result  is  contrary  to  all  natural  antici- 

*  Plato's    Republic,     pp.    360-362.       See    Professor   Jowett's 
translation,  vol.  ii.  p.  18. 


126  THE    PASSION   AND   DEATH 

pations,  is  that  we  are  perpetually  judging  of  men 
and  things  by  a  rule  which  implies  the  contrary. 
Unconsciously,  and  by  a  kind  of  instinct,  we  attach 
great  weight  to  the  reputation  which  a  man  holds 
in  common  opinion,  and  in  the  judgment  of  his 
contemporaries  ;  we  hesitate  to  set  ourselves  against 
such  a  judgment,  and  are  extremely  reluctant  to 
believe  that  large  bodies  of  men  can  be  united  in  de- 
testation of  truth,  goodness,  and  beauty  of  character. 
Yet  this,  beyond  all  question,  is  what  occurred  in 
the  case  of  our  Lord. 

The  difficulty,  it  must  be  observed,  cannot  be 
escaped  by  throwing  the  whole  blame  upon  the 
Jewish  rulers,  by  whom  the  opposition  to  our  Lord 
was  organized.  Their  offence  indeed  was  probably 
the  deepest,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  the  false 
Apostle ;  for  they  were  animated  by  motives  of  the 
most  deliberate  selfishness  and  calculating  hypocrisy. 
This  of  itself  would  have  seemed  antecedently  in- 
credible. That  a  body  of  men  who  vere  occupied 
day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  with  the  most  sacred 
functions  and  the  holiest  words,  should  all  but 
unanimously  conspire  in  a  malignant  and  mur- 
derous plot  against  a  person  of  perfect  holiness 
and  goodness — this  is  of  itself  astounding.  But  the 
Scribes  and  Pharisees  were  not  alone.  Though  the 
common  people  had  at  other  times  heard  our  Lord 
gladly,  they,  too,  deserted  and  repudiated  Him  at 


OF   OUR   LOED  127 

the  last,  and  became  the  ready  instruments  of 
Pharisaic  hatred.  '  Then  answered  all  the  people, 
and  said,  His  blood  be  on  us,  and  on  our  children.' 
Nor  is  there  any  sign  that  this  horrible  impulse  was 
repented  of  until  the  preaching  of  St.  Peter,  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  brought  home  to  some  of  his 
hearers  the  enormity  of  the  crime  they  had  com- 
mitted. Immediately  after  the  crucifixion,  we  find 
the  disciples  meeting  in  secrecy,  and  apparently 
dreading  a  fate  like  that  of  their  Master.  Had  it 
not  been  for  the  resurrection,  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  the  preaching  which  followed  it, 
there  is  nothing  to  show  that  any  reaction  against 
the  crime  would  have  arisen,  even  among  the  few 
thousands  whose  consciences  St.  Peter  touched.  The 
one  absolutely  perfect  being  who  has  ever  appeared 
in  the  world  would  thus  have  been  cast  out  of  it 
ignominiously,  by  the  practically  unanimous  consent 
of  priests  and  religious  leaders  and  rulers  and 
people  ;  and  a  mere  handful  of  timid  followers  would 
alone  have  shown  towards  Him  any  real  allegiance, 
and  even  that  a  wavering  one.  Among  the  evidences 
of  our  Lord's  Divine  prescience,  none  perhaps  is  so 
striking  and  conclusive  as  that  in  His  parables,  and 
in  His  private  discourses  with  His  disciples,  these 
amazing  results  should  have  been  calmly,  systema- 
tically, and  minutely  predicted. 

Now  there    can  be    no  reason   whatever  for  re- 


128  THE  PASSION  AND   DEATH 

garding  the  people  who  were  guilty  of  this  crime  as 
in  any  way  unworthy  representatives  of  human 
nature  in  general.  On  the  contrary,  the  Jews,  in 
addition  to  their  splendid  natural  endowments, 
had  enjoyed  a  higher  moral  and  spiritual  training 
than  any  other  people  of  that  day.  For  centuries 
the  Jewish  teachers  and  people  had  had  in  their 
hands,  as  the  food  of  their  daily  meditation,  words 
which  remain  to  this  day  the  most  powerful  of  all 
expositions  of  the  essential  principles  of  truth  and 
righteousness.  That  which  was  possible  for  them  is 
possible,  and  even  probable,  in  the  case  of  all  men 
in  like  circumstances.  The  story  of  the  Passion, 
therefore,  must  needs  be  regarded  as  casting  its 
lurid  and  terrible  light  upon  the  condition  and  the 
dangers  of  all  men  by  nature.  The  consideration  is 
one,  perhaps,  which  needs  especial  meditation  at  the 
present  day.  One  of  the  most  characteristic  and 
popular  tendencies  of  our  time  is  that  which  prompts 
us  to  place  confidence  in  the  natural  impulses  of 
mankind,  or,  as  the  phrase  runs,  of  humanity,  and 
to  believe  in  the  continuous  progress  of  society. 
Now  the  Christian,  above  all  men,  has  a  right, 
subject  to  some  grave  qualifications,  to  view  with 
hope  the  course  of  history  and  of  human  develop- 
ment, because  he  believes  that  a  Divine  hand  is 
guiding  it,  and  that  a  Divine  Spirit  is  present  to 
convince  men,  more  and  more,  '  of  sin,  of  righteous- 


OF   OUR   LORD  129 

ness  and  of  judgment.'  But  the  amazing  facts  now 
in  question  seem  to  show  that,  apart  from  that 
guidance,  there  is  no  justification  for  such  confi- 
dence in  the  natural  instincts  of  mankind,  and  no 
such  hope  in  humanity  itself.  The  matter  has  been 
put  to  the  test  of  experiment,  and  the  result  was  the 
commission  of  the  greatest  crime  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Perfect  truth  and  righteousness  were  brought 
before  men,  exhibited  in  flesh  and  blood,  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances,  and  the  result 
uas  that  human  nature  rejected  them.  That  is  the 
bare  and  indisputable  fact,  and  its  lesson  is  uumis- 
takeable.  The  surmise  of  Plato  has  been  established, 
by  this  experience,  as  an  unquestionable  truth. 
There  was  an  occasion  when  Light,  absolute  Light, 
came  into  the  world ;  but  men  loved  darkness  rather 
than  light,  and  did  their  utmost  to  extinguish  the 
illumination,  or,  as  in  the  example  of  Pilate,  were 
indifferent  to  its  extinction. 

The  cross  must  thus  be  regarded  as  an  exhibition 
of  human  nature — of  the  nature  which  we  all  share 
— on  the  one  hand  rising  up  in  rebellion  against  the 
Incarnation  of  Truth  and  Goodness,  and  on  the  other 
exhibiting  a  complete  indifference  to  truth  and 
justice  as  compared  with  the  gratification  of  selfish 
comfort  and  with  ease  in  this  world.  It  was  the 
malice  of  the  Jew  on  the  one  side,  and  the  indiili-r- 
ence  and  levity  of  the  Gentile  on  the  other,  by 

K 


130         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

which  our  Lord  was  brought  to  the  Cross.  That 
Cross  thus  stands  for  ever,  through  all  time  and 
eternity,  the  witness  to  the  true  nature  and  conse- 
quence of  sin — not  by  any  arbitrary  estimate,  but 
by  the  invincible  and  indisputable  evidence  of 
actual  experience.  To  this  it  was  that  man  actually 
did  come  under  the  reign  of  nature,  and  law  and 
philosophy.  All  the  circumstances  of  ignominy, 
insult,  and  cruelty,  which  were  heaped  upon  our 
blessed  Lord,  recoil  in  shame  upon  human  nature, 
and  are  the  standing  condemnation  of  all  our  evil. 
To  spurn  everything  that  is  good  and  true  and  pure, 
to  insult  and  to  murder  the  oue  man  who  embodied 
in  Himself  this  truth  and  purity — this  was  shown 
by  experience  to  be  the  natural  working  out  of 
human  evil,  even  under  the  guidance  of  a  divinely 
instituted  law,  and  under  the  authority  of  a  repre- 
sentative of  the  highest  pagan  civilization. 

But  now  let  us  pass  on  to  enquire  what  must,  by 
the  nature  of  the  case,  be  the  attitude  of  God,  not 
merely  towards  the  particular  crime  then  committed, 
but  towards  the  moral  evil  of  which  it  was  the 
natural  development  ?  Could  it  be  other  than  that 
of  which  the  Scriptures  speak,  an  attitude  of  hos- 
tility and  of  wrath,  in  the  absence  of  some  satisfac- 
tion for  violations  of  His  laws,  of  so  heinous  and 
deadly  a  character?  It  is  certainly  very  strange 
that  in  these  days  there  should  be  such  hesitation , 


OF   OUK   LORD  131 

as  there  often  is,  in  admitting  this  necessity.  In 
the  present  day  we  have  been  taught  more  and  more 
the  inflexible  and  stern  character  of  natural  laws, 
when  not  interfered  with,  as  at  the  time  of  the 
Gospel,  by  supernatural  agency.  We  have  come  to 
understand  that  we  are  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  a 
mass  of  physical  laws  which,  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  things,  exact  payment,  as  it  were,  for  every 
offence  against  them,  to  the  uttermost  farthing. 
They  take  no  account  of  excuses  on  the  ground  of 
ignorance  or  even  of  good  intentions.  They  avenge 
themselves,  regardless  of  persons,  of  circumstances, 
and  of  consequences,  upon  all  who  violate  or  even 
neglect  them.  Nor  is  this  true  only  of  the  laws  of 
physical  nature.  We  apprehend  more  and  more 
that  it  is  also  true  of  social  laws.  The  laws  of  poli- 
tical economy,  the  principles  which  govern  trade 
and  commerce,  have  their  unbending  operation. 
This  unbending  and  irresistible  character  of  law  is 
one  of  the  deepest  convictions  of  our  time;  it  i< 
impressed  on  us  more  and  more  every  day  by  every 
fresh  discovery,  and  it  has  doubtless  enlarged  and 
elevated,  in  some  important  respects,  our  conception 
of  the  Divine  nature  and  attributes.  But  is  it  tn  1" 
supposed  that,  while  the  laws  instituted  by  God  to 
govern  the  action  of  inanimate  matter  are  thus 
immutable  and  certain,  and  assert  and  aVenge  them- 
selves, the  laws  He  has  instituted  for  the  government 

K    I.' 


132  THE   PASSION   AND   DEATH 

of  our  moral  nature  are  less  immutable,  and  will  be 
maintained  by  Him  with  less  firmness?  May  we 
not  apply  in  this  connection  our  Lord's  own  illustra- 
tion, and  enquire  whether,  if  He  asserts  with  un- 
wavering firmness  the  laws  which  regulate  the 
growth  of  the  flowers  of  the  field,  or  cause  the  death 
of  a  sparrow,  He  will  vindicate  with  less  strictness 
those  which  He  has  laid  down  for  the  government  of 
human  hearts  and  wills  ?  Surely,  if  there  be  any 
comparison  between  the  two,  the  reverse  must  be  the 
case.  In  proportion  as  spiritual  and  moral  interests 
are  greater  than  those  of  merely  physical  nature,  in 
proportion  as  such  awful  scenes  as  those  we  are  con- 
templating transcend,  in  their  momentous  import, 
any  physical  manifestations  whatever,  in  that  pro- 
portion must  the  justice  of  God  be  bound  to  assert 
the  immutability  and  the  operative  force  of  His 
moral  laws,  with  a  solemnity  vastly  transcending  His 
assertion  of  physical  laws. 

Men  sometimes  say  of  other  laws,  and  of  their 
consequences,  that  they  are  founded  in  the  nature 
of  things ;  but  of  the  moral  laws,  we  feel  we  have 
a  right  to  say,  without  hesitation,  that  they  are 
founded  in  the  Divine  nature  itself.  Righteous- 
ness, truth,  and  purity  are  manifestations  of  the 
essence  of  the  Divine  character;  they  are  God's 
will,  not  in  the  sense  of  being  determined  by  the 
choice  of  His  wisdom  for  certain  finite  and  tern- 


OF   OUR   LORD  133 

porary  ends,  but  because  they  are  one  with  Himself, 
and  are  as  eternally  necessary  as  He  is.  The 
heavens  are  the  work  of  His  fingers,  and  the  phy- 
sical laws  which  maintain  them  in  their  place  are 
the  rules  which  His  wisdom  has  devised  for  that 
special  purpose.  '  In  the  beginning  He  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the 
works  of  His  hands ;'  but  the  Psalmist  contracts 
them,  in  all  their  apparent  stability,  with  the 
eternity  of  God  Himself:  'They  shall  perish,  but 
thou  retnainest;  and  they  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth 
a  garment ;  and  as  a  vesture  shalt  Thou  fold  them 
up,  and  they  shall  be  changed ;  but  Thou  art  the 
same,  and  Thy  years  shall  not  fail.'  He  is  the 
same,  ever  loving  righteousness  and  hating  iniquity. 
He  is  Love,  and  He  is  Light.  Other  ordinances  we 
may  conceive  being  changed  by  a  decree  of  His 
omnipotence,  but  the  laws  of  right  and  wrong  He 
cannot  alter,  because  He  cannot  alter  Himself. 

With  what  jealousy  then,  as  the  Scriptures  ex- 
press it,  must  He  not  uphold  among  the  creatures 
wkom  He  has  made  in  His  image  these  moral  and 
spiritual  laws,  in  the  obedience  of  which  they  chiefly 
resemble  Him  !  If  they  are  violated,  is  it  not  evi- 
dent that  it  would  be  contrary  to  the  deepest  prin- 
ciples of  the  Divine  nature  to  leave  the  violation 
without  some  conspicuous  punishment — some  vindi- 
cation adequate  to  the  depth  and  intensity  of  the 


134  THE    PASSION   AND    DEATH 

evil  which  such  violation  involves  ?  It  may  be 
permissible  to  observe,  in  passing,  that  in  proportion 
as  we  realize  this  truth,  shall  we  be  in  a  position  to 
apprehend  the  justice  and  necessity  of  those  terrible 
punishments  which,  by  God's  command,  were  from 
time  to  time  inflicted,  in  the  course  of  His  education 
of  His  chosen  people,  for  heinous  violations  of  the 
moral  laws ;  such,  for  instance,  as  the  extermination 
of  the  Canaanites.  It  is,  too  probably,  because  we 
are  deficient  in  that  moral  indignation,  that  righ- 
teous wrath,  which  is  an  essential  constituent  in  a 
perfectly  righteous  character,  that  such  instances 
of  Divine  justice  occasion  us  perplexity.  If  you 
regard  people  like  the  Canaanites  as  merely  in  an 
imperfect  stage  of  morality,  the  judgment  pro- 
nounced on  them  may  appear  harsh.  But  if,  in 
accordance  with  St.  Paul's  teaching  in  the  first 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  they  are  to  be 
regarded  as  offending,  in  consequence  of  repeated 
neglect  of  the  dictates  of  their  conscience,  against 
the  eternal  principles  of  the  moral  law,  and  as  thus 
being  in  antagonism  to  the  very  essence  of  the 
character  of  God  Himself,  we  shall  not  feel  it  diffi- 
cult to  understand  that  it  was  necessary  for  the 
intensity  of  that  antagonism  to  be  revealed  and 
avenged. 

If,  in  fact,  we  contemplate  on  a  large  scale  this 
necessary  relation  of  God  to  sinful  man,  this  neces- 


OF   OUR    LORD  135 

sary  relation  of  the  Divine  righteousness  to  evil,  our 
marvel  will  be,  not  that  in  particular  instances  the 
indignation  of  God  against  moral  evil  has  been 
expressed  in  terrible  punishments,  but  that  He,  has 
endured  human  evil  with  such  lon^sufftrin^  and 

O  o 

patience,  and  tliat  His  moral  laws,  the  most 
momentous  of  all,  have  not  produced  more  over- 
whelming misery  to  the  race  which  for  so  many 
centuries  has  violated  them.  There  is  a  fine 
passage  in  the  first  book  of  Hooker's  *  Ecclesiastical 
Polity,'  in  which  he  describes  the  momentous  im- 
portance to  men  of  the  observance  of  natural  laws. 
'  If  nature,'  he  says,  '  should  intermit  her  course, 
and  leave  altogether,  though  it  were  but  for  a  while, 
the  observation  of  her  own  laws ;  if  those  principal 
and  mother  elements  of  the  world,  whereof  all 
things  iu  this  lower  world  are  made,  should  lose  the 
qualities  which  now  they  have ;  if  the  frame  of  that 
heavenly  arch  erected  over  our  heads  should  loosen 
and  dissolve  itself;  if  celestial  spheres  should  forget 
their  wonted  motions,  and  by  irregular  volubility 
turn  themselves  any  way  as  it  might  happen  ;  if  the 
prince  of  the  lights  of  heaven,  which  now  as  a  giant 
doth  run  his  unwearied  course,  should  as  it  were 
through  a  languishing  faintness  begin  to  stand  and  to 
rest  himself;  if  the  moon  should  wander  from  her 
beaten  way,  the  times  and  seasons  of  the  year  blend 
themselves  by  disordered  and  confused  mixture,  the 


136  THE    PASSION    AND    DEATH 

winds  breathe  out  their  last  gasp,  the  clouds  yield 
no  rain,  the  earth  be  defeated  of  heavenly  influ- 
ence, ....  what  would  become  of  man  himself, 
whom  these  things  now  do  all  serve  ?  See  we  not 
plainly  that  obedience  of  creatures  unto  the  law  of 
nature  is  the  stay  of  the  whole  world  ? '  But  see 
we  not  as  plainly,  that  if  such  would  be  the  neces- 
sary and  terrible  consequences  of  the  disobedience  of 
physical  things  to  the  law  of  nature,  similar  and 
more  awful  must  be  the  natural  consequences  of 
the  disobedience  of  moral  beings  to  the  law  of  right 
and  wrong?  This  description  of  the  disorganization 
of  the  physical  frame  of  nature  has  but  to  be  trans- 
ferred to  the  moral  world,  in  order  to  give  an 
account,  only  too  true,  of  that  which  has  been  the 
actual  condition  of  human  nature,  as  a  whole,  from 
the  day  of  the  fall  until  now.  Our  moral  nature 
has  intermitted  her  course,  and  has  left,  not  merely 
for  a  while,  but  continuously,  the  observation  of  her 
own  laws.  The  principal  and  mother  elements  of 
our  moral  constitution  have  been  corrupted,  and 
have  lost  the  qualities  with  which  they  were  endued ; 
the  frame  of  that  heavenly  arch  erected  in  our  souls, 
and  revealing  the  will  of  God,  has  been  loosened 
and  dissolved ;  our  conscience,  that  prince  of  the 
lights  of  the  moral  world,  has  languished  and  grown 
faint  in  an  ineffectual  struggle  with  human  per- 
versity ;  our  passions  and  affections  have  blended 


OF   OUR  LORD  137 

themselves  by  disordered  and  confused  mixture, 
until  our  earth  lias  been  *  defeated '  of  its  most  neces- 
sary heavenly  influences.  Can  it  be  ascribed  to 
anything  but  the  mercy  and  longsuffering  of  God, 
to  His  gracious  resolve  that  He  would  not  allow  the 
whole  consequences  of  our  evil  to  fall  on  us,  that 
human  nature,  amidst  its  utter  moral  confusion,  has 
escaped  complete  misery,  degradation,  and  ruin  ? 
St.  Paul  does  not  hesitate  to  say  so.  *  The  times 
of  this  ignorance,'  he  says,  '  God  winked  at.'  He 
exercises  His  omnipotence  to  reserve  His  judgments 
to  the  uttermost,  and  to  give  men  time  for  repent- 
ance. But,  unless  all  the  principles  of  God's  govern- 
ment were  to  be  undermined,  and  the  whole  analogy 
of  His  dealings  were  to  be  falsified — if  His  moral  laws 
were  to  possess  any  real  and  effectual  sanction,  some 
vindication  they  must  have,  one  which  should  be  at 
least  as  conspicuous,  as  awful,  and  prominent,  in 
the  moral  sphere,  as  is  the  constant  vindication  of 
His  other  laws  in  the  physical  and  social  universe. 

Now  the  chief  truth  embodied  in  the  doctrine  of 
the  Atonement  is  that  this  vindication  has  been 
afforded  by  the  Passion  and  Death  of  our  Lord ;  and 
although,  as  has  been  already  said,  no  theory  on  this 
subject  has  fathomed,  or  is  likely  to  fathom,  its 
deep  mysteries,  we  can  hardly  be  wrong  in  observing, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  one  important  respect  in  which 
that  vindication  was  exhibited  by  the  awful  events 


138         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

we  have  been  considering.  We  have  seen  that  our 
Lord's  death  was  the  natural  consequence,  the  inevit- 
able working  out,  of  human  evil,  when  brought  into 
contact  with  truth,  righteousness,  and  purity.  Had 
men  been  left  to  themselves,  this  is  the  result  to 
which  they  would  have  come ;  they  would  have 
trampled  out  the  truth  and  goodness  which  is  the  life 
of  their  soul?,  and  God  must  needs  have  abandoned 
them,  in  the  necessary  vindication  of  His  laws,  to  all 
the  misery  which  they  inflicted  on  our  Saviour.  But 
in  enduring  that  misery,  our  Lord  has  exhibited 
once  for  all,  to  earth  and  to  heaven,  to  time  and 
.to  eternity,  what  is  the  natural  consequence  of  the 
violation  of  God's  moral  laws.  By  suffering  the 
extremity  of  misery,  in  soul  and  body,  on  the  tree, 
He  has  manifested  to  the  world  the  consequences  of 
human  sin — the  consequences  which  in  God's  justice 
it  must  produce,  if  left  to  itself — as  fully,  as  terribly, 
as  vividly,  as  if  the  human  race  as  a  whole  had 
themselves  suffered  such  extremities.  Nothing  could 
be  more  horrible,  nothing  could  be  a  more  fearful 
manifestation  of  the  deadly  evil  of  sin,  than  that  the 
holy  and  perfect  and  gentle  Lord  Jesus,  who  did  no 
sin,  neither  was  guile  found  in  His  mouth,  should 
be  betrayed  and  insulted,  and  tortured  and  crucified, 
and  cast  out  of  the  world  as  one  of  its  malefactors. 
It  is  sin  which  on  the  cross  is  crucified,  and  exposed 
to  the  scorn  and  hatred  of  men  and  angels.  Nay, 


OF    OUR   LORD  139 

surely  it  is  a  more  awful  exhibition  of  the  evil  of 
sin  that  it  should  bring  this  suffering  upon  one  so 
holy  and  innocent,  than  that  it  should  simply  have 
been  left  to  work  out  the  just  judgment  of  those 
who  were  guilty.  It  is  so  fearful  a  curse,  so  awful  a 
disease,  that  it  involves  not  merely  the  guilty,  it 
inflicts  its  terrible  penalties  not  only  on  those 
who  themselves  have  done  wrong ;  but  when  the 
Son  of  God  Himself  takes  human  flesh  for  the  salva- 
tion of  mankind,  it  must  needs  bring  its  fearful 
consequences  upon  Him,  and  inflict  on  Him  the 
worst  sufferings  which  man  can  endure.  All  this,  as 
has  been  said,  is  not  by  an  arbitrary  arrangement, 
not  by  any  formal  convention,  as  it  were.  God 
left  men  for  a  while  to  the  consequences  of  their 
own  evil  acts,  and  permitted  His  Son  to  appear 
among  them,  arid  the  moral  laws  He  had  established 
vindicated  themselves,  by  their  violation  working 
itself  out  into  this  fearful  crime  and  cruelty. 

In  short,  what  do  these  events  prove,  but  that 
men,  if  left  to  themselves,  could  have  gone  on  in  no 
other  course  than  that  of  extirpating  from  among 
themselves  more  and  more  every  grace,  every  truth, 
and  every  virtue -for  which  they  were  designed? 
That  which  they  did  to  goodness  incarnate,  they 
must  have  done  to  goodness  wherever  it  appeared. 
Their  very  curse,  the  natural  expression  of  the 
wrath  of  God  against  their  sins,  would  be  that  those 


140         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

sins  should  be  left  to  develop  their  hateful  fruit, 
until  it  issued  in  utter  moral  corruption.  As  they 
did  not  like  to  retain  God  in  their  knowledge,  God 
gave  them  over  to  a  reprobate  mind,  or,  as  the 
same  method  of  the  divine  judgment  is  expressed 
in  the  Psalms,  He  gave  them  up  unto  their  own 
heart's  lusts,  and  let  them  follow  their  own  imagina- 
tions. Had  our  Lord  been  simply  a  perfect  man, 
His  death  would  still  have  been  the  example  and 
the  prophecy  of  the  uprising  of  human  nature 
against  all  things  that  are  just  and  true  and  pure, 
against  everything,  in  a  word,  that  is  precious  iu 
life.  And  thus  by  the  exercise  of  the  very  passions 
which  put  Him  to  death,  men  must  have  gone  on 
revenging  their  sins  upon  themselves,  until  they  had 
made  human  society  a  hell  upon  earth.  This  would 
have  been  the  natural  and  inevitable  operation  of 
the  Divine  judgment  upon  them  ;  and  by  no  other 
natural  means  could  the  righteousness  of  God  have 
been  fully  manifested.  If  we  could  suppose  God 
interposing  by  some  act  of  arbitrary  power  to  create 
men  afresh,  as  it  were,  and  to  blot  out  the  conse- 
quences of  their  sins,  it  would  have  amounted  to  a 
practical  declaration  that  the  moral  law  could  be 
readily  dispensed  with,  and  the  eternal  supremacy 
of  righteousness  would  have  been  superseded. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  if  that  eternal  law  had  been 
left  to  work  itself  out,  we  see  by  its  operation  in 


OF   OUR   LORD  141 

bringing  about  the  death  of  Christ  that  it  must 
have  wrought  out  the  death  of  all  righteousness  and 
peace  among  mankind. 

But  here,  far  as  our  conceptions  must  needs  fall 
short  of  a  truth  which  appears  to  be  the  very  centre 
of  the  Divine  dealings  with  mankind,  we  may, 
perhaps,  apprehend  something  of  the  mystery  of  the 
sacrifice  of  Christ.  ~\Ve  perceive  that  the  Son  of 
God,  by  taking  human  flesh,  allowed  that  inevit- 
able consequence  of  the  operation  of  the  law  of 
righteousness  to  be  wrought  on  Himself.  He 
endured  that  He  should  be  cast  out  from  among 
mankind  ;  and  if  He  had  been  one  of  themselves  that 
rejection  would  have  been  irreparable.  But  He 
was  more  than  the  Son  of  Man  ;  He  was  the  Son  of 
God ;  and  though  they  thus  cast  Him  out,  their 
wicked  effort,  through  His  mercy,  was  ineffectual. 
He  revealed  to  them,  in  His  sufferings,  what  was 
the  real  nature  of  their  sin  and  its  consequences ; 
and  then,  having  thus  satisfied  the  law  of  God  by 
a) lowing  it  to  work  itself  out  to  the  full,  He  inter- 
ceded with  His  Father  for  mercy  towards  us.  and 
returned  among  us  to  save  us,  having  obtained  for 
us  the  remission  of  sins. 

But  this  having  been  done,  and  done  once  for  all, 
that  vindication  stands  for  ever,  and  we  can  at  least 
see  that  it  goes  far  to  answer  the  main  purposes  of 
the  actual  infliction  of  punishment  on  the  sinner. 


142         THE  PASSION  AND  DEATH 

God  willed  not  the  death  of  the  sinner,  but  rather 
that  he  should  return  and  repent.  Provided  His 
law  is  vindicated  in  such  a  way  as  to  declare  His 
righteousness,  to  make  it  manifest  to  the  whole 
universe  that  He  cannot  be  reconciled  to  evil,  and 
at  the  same  time  to  arouse  in  men  a  due  hatred  of 
evil  and  love  of  righteousness  He  has  no  pleasure, 
but  the  contrary,  in  exacting  the  ultimate  penalty 
of  sin  from  every  one  of  His  feeble  creatures ;  and 
He  offers  them  forgiveness,  on  condition  they  submit 
themselves  to  His  justice  and  His  mercy,  by  seeking 
that  forgiveness  solely  on  the  ground  of  the  satisfac- 
tion which  has  been  offered  by  our  Lord.  As  long, 
indeed,  as  a  man  desires  to  stand  by  himself,  and 
expects  God  to  overlook  his  offences,  as  though  they 
did  not  need  any  exemplary  punishment,  it  may  well 
be  necessary,  for  his  very  salvation,  that  he  should 
for  a  while  be  left  in  his  sin  and  its  misery,  that  he 
may  learn  the  intense  reality  and  terror  of  God's 
moral  law.  But  if,  by  sheltering  himself  solely 
under  the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  he  does  homage  to  God's 
righteousness,  confessing  that  his  evil  and  the  evil 
of  his  fellows  deserved,  and  must  in  the  course  of 
nature  have  received,  an  intolerable  punishment, 
then  may  it  become  compatible  with  God's  relation 
to  such  a  soul,  that  He  should  pardon  it,  that  He 
should  stay  the  natural  consequences  of  its  moral  evil, 
that  He  should  bestow  His  Spirit  on  it,  sanctify  and 


OP  OUR  LORD  143 

save  it.  Again  let  me  repeat,  for  fear  of  misappre- 
hension, that  the  Atonement  in  its  relation  to  man, 
no  less  than  in  its  relation  to  God,  must  needs  present 
aspects,  and  exert  influences,  which  no  single  point 
of  view  can  include.  But  so  far  as  these  considera- 
tions reach,  they  appear  to  show,  in  some  measure, 
how  the  Passion  of  our  Lord  would,  by  its  inherent 
moral  efficacy,  provide  means  of  reconciliation  be- 
tween God  and  man.  Far,  in  fact,  as  we  must  be 
from  entering  into  the  depth  of  the  riches  of 
the  wisdom  and  mercy  of  God,  and  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  which  were  manifested  in  the  great 
sacrifice  of  the  cross,  do  not  these  considerations 
serve  to  help  us  to  realize  at  once  the  evil  of  sin, 
the  grace  of  our  Saviour  in  offering  an  atonement 
for  it,  and  the  justice  of  God,  alike  in  demand- 
ing such  a  satisfaction  for  sin,  in  accepting  that 
which  was  offered  Him  on  the  cross,  and  in  pardon- 
ing those  who  believe  in  it  ?  Is  not  this  com- 
prehensive manifestation  of  justice  and  mercy  summed 
up  in  St.  Paul's  words,  '  Whom  God  hath  set  forth  to 
be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  His  blood,  to 
declare  His  righteousness  for  the  remission  of  sins 
that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God ;  to 
declare,  I  say,  at  this  time  His  righteousness :  that 
He  might  be  just,  and  the  justih'er  of  Him  which 
believeth  in  Jesus  ?  ' 

Let  me  add  only  one  consideration,  at  once  to 


144  THE   PASSION    AND   DEATH 

obviate  one  of  the  chief  objections  which  are  raised 
against  this  great  doctrine,  and  to  recall  the  deep 
obligation  which  it  has  created  for  us.  It  has  been 
objected  that  this  is  a  vicarious  atonement,  and  that 
the  innocent  is  made  to  suffer  for  the  guilty.  Now 
if  it  were  a  vicarious  atonement  by  one  of  those 
arbitrary  and  artificial  arrangements  of  which  I 
have  spoken,  and  if  the  innocent  had  been  made  to 
suffer  for  the  guilty  by  the  decree  of  God,  against, 
or  without,  the  will  of  the  sufferer,  such  objections 
might  apply.  But  it  is  an  essential  part  of  our 
Saviour's  suffering  for  us  that  it  is  perfectly  volun- 
tary on  His  part.  That  it  is  so,  depends  on  the 
cardinal  doctrine  of  Christianity,  that  He  is  the 
Son  of  God,  one  in  substance  with  the  Father.  As 
God,  He  saw  perfectly  the  whole  nature  and  con- 
sequences of  the  sin  of  man ;  He  foresaw,  as  His 
agony  in  the  garden  shows,  the  whole  bitterness  of 
the  cup  which  He  had  resolved  to  drink ;  and  being 
one  with  the  Father,  and  equal  to  Him  as  touching 
His  Godhead,  He  of  His  perfect  free  will  consented 
to  lay  aside  the  power  and  privileges  of  His  Divine 
nature,  and  to  be  the  victim  in  whom  human  sin 
should  work  out  its  terrible  consequences.  There  is 
here  no  infliction  of  vicarious  suffering  on  unresist- 
ing innocence.  There  is  the  deliberate  and  infi- 
nitely gracious  resolve  of  one  who  was  under  no 
obligation,  or  none  but  that  which  His  own  perfect 


OF   OUR   LORD  14j 

love  created,  to  die  that  we  might  not  die  eternally, 
to  suffer  that  we  might  be  saved.     Let  us  contem- 
plate the  Father  and  the  Son  thus  working  together 
for  men's  salvation — the  Father  sending  the  Son, 
and  consenting  that  He  should  suffer  all  this  misery 
and  ignominy  in  human  form,  and  the  Son  consent- 
ing  to   it,  of  His   own   original  free  will,  for  the 
vindication  of  His  Father's  law — and  what  do  we 
behold  but  infinite  love,  co-operating  with  infinite 
justice,  and  establishing  the  intensest  obligations  on 
us  for  love  in  return  that  could  possibly  be  con- 
ceived?    Shall  we  not  respond  to  the  exhortation  of 
the  Apostle :  '  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we  loved  God, 
but  that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to  be  the 
propitiation  for  our  sins.  .  .  .   We  love  Him  because 
He  first  loved  us  ' — loved  us  in  all  our  sin  and  misery, 
and  gave  His  life  to  save  us  ?    Shall  not '  the  blood 
of  Christ,  who  through  the  Eternal  Spirit  offered 
Himself  without  spot  to  God,  purge  our  conscience 
from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God  ?  '     Let  us 
at  least  learn,  from  the  contemplation  of  these  awful 
consequences  of  human  sin,  the  deep  solemnity  of 
that  struggle  between  good  and  evil  which  is  every 
day,  and  every  hour,  going    forwards  in  our  own 
hearts.      Let  us   remember  that  whenever  we  are 
faithless  to  the  dictates  of  our  consciences,  and  dis- 
obedient to  the  vo:ce  of  God  within  us,  we  are  com- 
mitting sins  of  precisely  the  same  kind  as  tin-' 

L 


146         THE  DEATH  OF  OUR  LORD 

which  brought  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  the  cross. 
But  that,  on  the  other  hand,  in  every  word  spoken, 
or  deed  done,  or  thought  controlled,  in  obedience  to 
righteousness  and  truth,  we  are  rendering  Him  the 
one  reward  which  He  desires  for  His  sufferings  in 
our  behalf.  We  are  enabling  Him,  in  some  measure, 
'  to  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul,  and  to  be  satisfied.' 


(     147     ) 


LECTURE  VII 


THE  WITNESS  TO  OUR  LORD'S 
RESURRECTION 

'•  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are  witnesses. 
Therefore  being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  and  having  received 
of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  hath  shed  forth  this, 
which  ye  now  see  and  hear." — Acts  ii.  32,  33. 

THE  glorious  event  celebrated  on  Whit-Sunday  is 
the  culminating  point  of  the  revelation  of  the  New 
Testament.  On  the  one  hand  it  is  the  immediate 
result  to  which  the  life  and  death  of  our  Lord  were 
directed,  and  it  is  also  the  point  from  which  the 
history  of  the  Church  takes  its  start.  Until  a 
comparatively  recent  date,  it  was  the  last  of  the 
great  festivals  of  the  Christian  year ;  for  it  was  not 
until  the  fourteenth  century  that  the  observance  of 
Trinity  Sunday  was  enjoined  upon  the  Western 
Church.  Accordingly  Whit-Sunday  casts  its  illu- 
mination upon  all  the  sacred  events  which  have  been 
previously  commemorated,  and  they  are  all  to  be  in- 
terpreted by  its  light.  More  particularly  will  this  be 
found  to  be  the  case  with  respect  to  the  events  we 
have  been  celebrating  in  the  season  just  passed — 
those  of  the  Resurrection  and  Ascension.  The  re- 
markable position  which  the  great  event  of  the  day 

L  2 


148  THE    WITNESS 

of  Pentecost  holds  in  this  respect  is  sufficiently  illus- 
trated from  the  character  of  St.  Peter's  argument  in 
the  passage  from  which  my  text  is  taken.  That 
argument  was  delivered  on  the  day  of  Pentecost, 
and  was  the  first  public  utterance  of  the  Apostles 
since  our  Lord's  death  and  resurrection.  He  had 
been  with  them  forty  days  between  His  Resurrec- 
tion and  Ascension  ;  and  since  then,  in  obedience  to 
His  command,  they  had  been  quietly  waiting  in 
Jerusalem.  When  they  returned  from  witnessing 
the  Ascension,  they  went  into  an  upper  room,  and 
continued  with  one  accord  in  prayer  and  supplication 
with  the  women,  and  Mary  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  and 
with  His  brethren.  There,  and  in  this  attitude  of 
prayer  and  supplication,  they  waite  1  for  the  promise 
of  the  Father,  of  which  their  Lord  had  spoken  to 
them  ;  taking  no  step  whatever  in  pursuance  of  their 
commission  as  Apostles,  except  to  complete  the 
number  of  twelve  chosen  witnesses,  by  the  election 
of  Matthias  into  the  room  of  Judas.  But  at  the  end 
of  the  ten  days,  on  the  great  Jewish  feast  of  Pente- 
cost, the  wonderful  manifestation  of  spiritual  power 
came  upon  them  which  we  to-day  commemorate. 
They  were  enabled  to  proclaim,  in  the  various 
tongues  spoken  by  the  Jews  then  gathered  in  Jeru- 
salem out  of  every  nation  under  heaven,  the  won- 
derful works  of  God  —  doubtless  the  great  facts  of 
our  Saviour's  ministry,  which  had  just  been  com- 
pleted. Then  it  was,  but  not  iill  then,  that  St.  Peter 


TO   OUR   LORDS   RESURRECTION  149 

opened  to  the  Jewish  people  the  gracious  message 
with  which  he  had  been  entrusted,  respecting  our 
Saviour's  Ascension,  and  His  exaltation  to  the  right 
hand  of  God.  Then  was  exhibited  to  the  eyes  of  the 
Jews  a  marvellous  exercise  of  new  spiritual  powers 
— a  momentous  fact  which  aroused  amazement, 
and  compelled  men  to  say  one  to  another,  *  What 
meaneth  this  ?'  St.  Peter  comes  forward  to  give  the 
answer,  and  announces  that  this  is  the  manifestation 
of  the  risen  Christ.  He  reminds  his  hearers  of 
the  whole  course  of  our  Lord's  ministry,  and  of  its 
awful  close :  '  Jesus  of  Nazareth,'  he  said,  '  a  man 
approved  of  God  among  you  by  miracles  and  wonders 
and  signs,  which  God  did  by  Him  in  the  midst  of 
you,  as  ye  yourselves  also  know :  Him,  being  de- 
livered by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknow- 
ledge of  God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands 
have  crucified  and  slain  :  whom  God  hath  raised  up, 
having  loosed  the  pains  of  death :  because  it  was 
not  possible  that  He  should  be  holden  of  it.  .  .  This 
Jesus  halh  God  raised  up,  whereof  we  all  are 
witnesses.  Therefore  being  by  the  right  hand  of 
God  exalted,  and  having  received  of  the  Father  the 
promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  He  hath  shed  forth  this, 
which  ye  now  see  and  hear.  .  .  .  Therefore  let  all  the 
house  of  Israel  know  assuredly,  that  God  hath  made 
that  same  Jesus,  whom  ye  have  crucified,  both  Lord 
and  Christ.' 


150  THE   WITNESS 

Such  was  the  order  and  method  of  the  first  preach- 
ing of  the  Resurrection.  The  great  event  is  pro- 
claimed, in  the  first  instance,  not  in  itself,  nor  even, 
in  relation  to  the  ministry  and  the  death  which 
had  preceded  it,  but  in  relation  to  a  new  and 
great  manifestation  of  spiritual  power,  and  as  ex- 
plaining that  manifestation.  The  Apostles  are 
not  commissioned  to  bear  witness  simply  to  the 
historical  miracle  that  our  Lord  bad  risen  from  the 
grave,  or  even  to  the  historic  fact  of  His  Ascension 
in  glory.  Their  commission  was  to  declare  that  He 
had  risen  in  power,  and  that  He  was  a  living  Saviour, 
bestowing  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost  upon  those 
who  submitted  themselves  to  Him.  '  Repent,'  he 
said,  'and  be  baptized  every  one  of  you  in  the  name 
of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission  of  sins,  and  ye 
shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost.'  The 
Resurrection,  the  Ascension,  and  the  bestowal  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  are  presented  in  such  immediate  rela- 
tion to  each  other  that  it  is  difficult  to  distinguish 
them.  '  This  Jesus  hath  God  raised  up.  .  .  There- 
fore, being  by  the  right  hand  of  God  exalted,  aud 
having  received  of  the  Father  the  promise  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  He  hath  shed  forth  this,  which  ye  now 
see  and  hear.'  The  Resurrection,  in  short,  is  not 
proclaimed  for  its  own  sake,  for  the  mere  significance 
of  the  fact  that  our  Lord  had  risen  from  the  grave, 
but  as  involving  the  supreme  fact  of  His  having 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  151 

assumed  a  new,  a  mightier,  and  still  more  gracious 
life,  and  as  being  the  giver  of  new  spiritual  powers. 
The  proclamation  is  not  merely  that  Christ  did  rise, 
but  that  Christ  is  risen ;  has  assumed  all  power  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  is  working  spiritual  miracles, 
even  mightier  than  those  He  displayed  when  he  was 
upon  earth. 

The  same  characteristic  is  to  be  observed  in  all 
the  discourses  and  acts  of  St.  Peter  which  follow. 
The  next  instance  of  which  we  read  is  the  healing  of 
the  lame  man,  and  St.  Peter  turns  it  to  account  as 
evidence  of  the  presence  and  power  of  the  living 
Saviour :  *  Ye  men  of  Israel,  why  marvel  ye  at 
this  ?  or  why  look  ye  so  earnestly  on  us,  as  though 
by  our  own  power  or  holiness  we  had  made  this 
man  to  walk  ?  .  .  The  God  of  our  fathers  hath  glori- 
fied His  Son  Jesus,  whom  ye  delivered  up.  ...  Yi> 
denied  the  Holy  One  and  the  Just,  and  desired  a 
murderer  to  be  granted  unto  you,  and  killed  the 
Prince  of  Life,  whom  God  hath  raised  from  the 
dead ;  whereof  we  are  witnesses.  And  His  name 
through  faith  in  His  name  hath  made  this  man 
strong,  whom  ye  see  and  know ;  yea,  the  faith  which 
is  by  Him  hath  given  him  this  perfect  soundness 
in  the  presence  of  you  all.'  When  summoned 
before  the  Council,  St.  Peter's  reply  is  of  precisely 
the  same  character :  '  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather 
than  men.  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised  up  Jesus, 


152  THE   WITNESS 

whom  ye  slew  and  hanged  on  a  tree.  Him  hath 
God  exalted  with  His  right  hand  to  be  a  Prince  and 
a  Saviour,  for  to  give  repentance  to  Israel,  and 
remission  of  sins.  And  we  are  His  witnesses  of  these 
things ;  and  so  is  also  the  Holy  Ghost,  whom  God 
hath  given  to  them  that  obey  Him.'  It  was  in  this 
sense  that,  with  great  power,  the  Apostles  gave 
witness  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  '  and 
great  grace  was  upon  them  all ; '  '  and  many  wonders 
and  signs  were  done  by  the  Apostles.'  Similarly 
the  culminating  point  of  St.  Stephen's  testimony 
was  that  he  saw  the  heavens  opened,  and  the  Son  of 
Man  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God.  So  also 
the  appearance  of  our  Lord  to  St.  Paul  is  the  revela- 
tion to  him  of  a  living  Christ — risen,  not  only 
in  the  sense  of  having  been  raised  from  the  grave, 
but  of  being  present,  and  exercising  supernatural 
powers.  In  all  cases,  it  is  from  actual  present  facts 
'  that  the  proclamation  of  the  Resurrection  starts — 
from  the  amazing  fact  of  the  descent  of  the  Holy 
Ghost ;  from  the  evidence  of  the  power  exercised  by 
the  name  of  Christ  over  the  bodies  and  souls  of  men  ; 
or  from  actual  manifestations  of  the  risen  Lord.  In 
a  word,  it  is  not  to  a  past,  but  to  a  present  fact,  that 
the  testimony  of  the  Apostles  is  born ;  its  object  is 
to  interpret  present  realities,  and  to  bring  men  into 
the  enjoyment  of  new  powers. 

Now  this  is  a  consideration  which  appears  to  throw 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  153 

light  upon  the  nature  of  the  evidence  for  the  Resur- 
rection on  the  one  hand,  and  upon  our  present 
relation  to  that  great  truth  on  the  other.  It  will  be 
seen,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  witness  of  the 
Apostles  did  not  rest  simply  upon  their  assertions 
respecting  what  they  alone  had  seen ;  it  was  not 
simply  that  they,  and  they  only,  had  found  the 
grave  empty,  and  that  our  Lord  had  appeared  to 
them,  and  had  subsequently  ascended  to  heaven, 
Had  that  been  all  they  had  to  say,  it  might  not 
have  been  difficult  for  the  enemies  of  our  Lord  to 
have  either  described  them  as  mere  enthusiasts,  or 
to  have  charged  them  with  deception,  as  in  the 
story,  which  St.  Matthew  tells  us  was  set  on  foot,  of 
the  disciples  having  stolen  away  our  Lord's  body 
while  the  soldiers  slept.  The  testimony  of  twelve 
unlearned  and  ignorant  men,  despised  as  the  followers 
of  a  crucified  master,  would  scarcely,  if  it  had  stood 
alone  and  unsupported,  have  found  credence  for  so 
great  a  miracle.  At  all  events,  the  Apostles  did  not 
proclaim  this  testimony  as  long  as  it  stood  alone. 
When  they  proclaim  it,  they  are  able  to  appeal  to  a 
present  fact,  to  a  number  of  successive  facts,  which 
verify  it.  They  are  suddenly  endued  with  new  spiritual 
powers ;  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  they  work 
miracles  on  the  bodies  of  men,  and  convert  thousands 
to  repentance  and  to  a  holy  life ;  and  it  is  with  the 
support  of  these  facts  and  in  order  to  explain  them, 


-54  THE   WITNESS 

that  they  declare  what  they  had  seen  and  heard 
of  our  Lord  after  His  resurrection.  They  thus 
offer  a  practical  attestation  of  their  message  of  the 
strongest  possible  kind.  They  proclaim  to  the  Jews 
that  Christ  is  living ;  and  here,  they  say,  is  the 
proof  of  it,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  bestowed  on  us, 
that  miracles  are  wrought  in  His  name;  that  He 
actually  gives  power,  both  spiritual  and  bodily,  to 
those  who  believe  on  Him.  This  it  was,  and  not 
mere  testimony  to  the  past,  which  produced  so  great 
an  effect  in  Jerusalem,  and  which  so  alarmed  the 
Jewish  rulers.  The  Apostles,  in  a  word,  spoke  of  a 
present  reality ;  that  reality  was  verified  by  present 
experience,  and  they  thus  established  a  most  weighty 
claim  to  be  believed  on  their  explanation  of  it.  If 
the  name  of  Jesus,  through  faith  in  Him,  had,  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  made  men  whole  in  soul  and  body, 
then  there  was  every  reason  to  believe  the  witnesses 
who  appealed  to  that  name,  and  who  stated  facts 
which  would  explain  the  power  it  exerted. 

This  consideration,  perhaps,  will  help  to  explain 
one  point  in  the  Evangelical  narratives  of  the  Eesur- 
rection  which  might  otherwise  seem  a  little  sur- 
prising. I  mean  their  comparative  brevity,  and  the 
lack  of  the  circumstantial  character  which  marks 
some  other  portions  of  the  sacred  narrative.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Resurrection  occupies 
the  most  prominent  place  in  the  preaching  of  the 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION          155 

Apostles,  both  at  the  outset  and  throughout  the 
Epistles.  The  grand  message  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles  is  that  of  a  risen  Christ,  whether  it  be  in 
the  inouth  of  St.  Peter  or  St.  Paul.  But,  neverthe- 
less, the  circumstances  of  the  Passion  are  narrated 
by  the  Evangelists  with  far  more  particularity  than 
those  of  the  Eesurrection.  The  narratives  of  the 
Passion  occupy  a  very  considerable  space,  but  those 
of  the  Eesurrection  occupy  in  St.  Matthew,  St.  Mark, 
and  St.  Luke  only  one  chapter,  and  in  the  two 
former  but  very  brief  ones.  In  St.  John  two  chapters 
are  devoted  to  the  subject ;  but  one  of  them  is  mainly 
the  account  of  a  special  incident  in  our  Lord's  inter- 
course with  His  disciples  after  the  Resurrection  ;  and 
the  account  of  the  Resurrection  itself  is  of  the  same 
brief  character  as  that  in  the  other  Evangelists. 
This  feature  in  the  narratives  has  been  made  a 
ground  of  objection  to  the  belief  they  proclaim,  and 
it  is  urged  that  we  ought  to  have  been  furnished 
with  more  detailed  and  circumstantial  relations  of 
an  event  of  such  supreme  importance.  But  this 
objection  springs  from  the  supposition — a  supposi- 
tion unconsciously  admitted  too  often  by  Christians 
themselves— that  the  actual  rising  from  the  grave, 
the  mere  fact  of  our  Lord  not  having  seen  corrup- 
tion, is  the  main  fact  to  be  substantiated.  Sceptical 
writers,  in  dealing  with  the  subject,  fasten  attention 
exclusively  on  this  feature  in  it;  they  make  it  an 


156  THE   WITNESS 

objection  that  no  eye-witness  had  borne  testimony 
to  the  resurrection  itself — that  no  one  actually  saw 
our  Saviour  rise.  They  argue,  in  short,  as  if  it 
were  simply  a  past  fact  and  an  isolated  one,  with 
which  we  have  to  deal ;  and  they  complain  that 
the  Apostles  and  other  disciples  took  no  sufficient 
pains  to  afford  satisfaction  to  the  legitimate  and 
necessary  enquiries,  which  the  report  of  so  extra- 
ordinary an  occurrence  must  occasion.  But  the 
Evangelists,  it  will  now  be  seen,  approached  the 
question  from  a  very  different  point  of  view.  The 
mere  fact  of  our  Saviour  having  left  the  grave  was 
but  a  part,  and  comparatively  a  small  part,  in  their 
view  of  the  Resurrection.  The  essential  part  of  the 
Resurrection  was  our  Lord's  re-appearance  to  His 
disciples  in  glorious  form,  and  the  fact  that  He  was 
still  living,  as  a  Prince  and  Saviour  to  them.  But  of 
this  great  fact  believers  were  assured,  not  only  by  the 
Apostles'  report  of  His  appearance  to  them,  but  by 
the  daily  evidences  they  had  of  His  living  power 
and  grace.  The  fact  of  his  having  risen  was  in  great 
measure  substantiated  to  them  by  the  most  con- 
spicuous records  of  early  Christian  life,  and  by  their 
own  experience.  The  events  narrated  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  proved  that  the  Lord  was  with  His 
Church,  and  this  fact  was  to  them  the  most  certain 
of  all  realities.  The  Evangelists  did  not  write,  there- 
fore, to  prove  the  Resurrection.  They  wrote  under 


TO   OUR   LORD  S   RESURRECTION 


157 


the  living  conviction  of  the  Resurrection  being  true ; 
and  they  were  only  concerned  to  give  such  details 
of  it  as  might  suit  their  particular  purpose. 

With  respect  to  the  differences  in  their  narration, 
some  interesting  observations  have  been  made  in  a 
valuable  book  on  the  resurrection  of  Our  Lord, 
recently  published  by  Dr.  Milligan,  the  Professor  of 
Divinity  in  the  University  of  Aberdeen.*  He  ob- 
serves that  the  different  Evangelists  seem  to  present 
the  Resurrection  of  Our  Lord  in  a  light  correspond- 
ing to  that  in  which  they  had  treated  His  whole 
previous  life.  Thus  he  points  out  that  St.  Matthew, 
having  been  occupied  with  the  Galilean  ministry, 
as  that  in  which  he  beheld  the  fulfilment  of  Old 
Testament  prophecy,  and  having,  throughout  the 
whole  of  his  Gospel,  set  forth  Jesus  as  the  bringer  in 
of  a  true  righteousness,  as  the  great  lawgiver  of  the 
New  Testament  economy,  seems  to  have  these 
thoughts  mainly  in  his  mind  when  he  comes  to  the 
Resurrection.  He  is  chiefly  occupied  with  the  ap- 
pearances in  Galilee ;  and  the  idea  of  the  lawgiver, 
the  author  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  may  be 
traced  in  those  words  of  the  risen  Lord  which  St. 
Matthew  alone  has  preserved,  '  Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations, teaching  them  to  observe 


*  Tlie  Resurrection  of  our  Lord. 
I5y  William  Milligan,  D.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Divinity  and  Biblical 


Criticism  in  the  University  of 
Aberdeen.  London,  1881,  pp. 
53-G1. 


158  THE    WITNESS 

all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you.'  Thus 
it  is  that  in  the  closing  verses  of  St.  Mark's 
Gospel  we  find  particulars  and  words  of  the  risen 
Lord  which  at  once  recall  to  us  that  mighty 
march  of  His  power,  with  which  we  have  been  made 
familiar  by  the  Gospel  as  a  whole.  Thus  it  is  that 
St.  Luke,  who  had  especially  set  forth  the  human 
Saviour,  and  the  universality  of  His  mission  of  forgive- 
ness, seizes  on  those  circumstances  in  connection  with 
His  Eesurrection  which  illustrate  the  same  points. 
The  story  of  the  disciples  at  Emmaus  brings  Him 
before  us  vividly  as  what  He  had  always  been,  the 
human  friend ;  and  St.  Luke  alone  speaks — not  as  St. 
Matthew,  of  teaching  all  the  nations — but  of  repent- 
ance and  remission  of  sins  to  be  preached  to  all ;  and 
he  alone  tells  us  of  the  consolatory  blessing  with  which, 
lifting  up  His  hands,  the  Lord  blessed  His  disciples 
when  He  ascended  to  Heaven.  Finally,  it  is  thus 
that  St.  John,  who  has  been  occupied  throughout 
his  Gospel  with  the  manifestation  of  Our  Lord's 
glory,  fixes  on  particular  circumstances  respecting 
the  risen  Lord  which  illustrate  the  same  truth.  The 
manifestations  of  which  he  speaks  are  related  less 
for  the  purpose  of  convincing  us  that  the  Lord  had 
risen,  than  for  the  sake  of  illustrating  the  nature  of 
His  risen  state,  and  the  manner  in  which  one  of  the 
loftiest  confessions  of  the  Gospel  was  drawn  forth  by 
it — '  my  Lord  and  my  God.' 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  159 

From   this    point  of  view,   it  will  be  seen   how 
unreasonable    is    the   stress    which   has  been  laid 
on   the    fact   of    the    absence    from    one    or   two 
old  manuscripts  of  the  last  verses  of  St.  Mark's 
Gospel.*     It  must  be  observed  that,  independently 
of  those  verses,  St.  Mark  bears   emphatic   witness 
to  the  Eesurrection,  for  that  testimony  is  borne  in 
the  first  eight  verses  of  his  last  chapter,  which  are 
not   doubted.     But  even  if  it  were   the  case  that 
the  last  verses  did  not  belong  to  the  Gospel — and 
they  are  defended  by  scholars  of  very  diverse  views 
— it  would  still  be  inconceivable  that  their  absence 
should  affect,  in  the  slightest  degree,  the  evidence 
for  the  Eesurrection.     The  belief  of  the  Church  in 
that  event  dates  from  a  few  days,  or,  we  might  say, 
hours,  after  the  crucifixion,  and  St.  Peter,  at  whose 
instance,  and  by  whose  guidance,  St.  Mark  wrote, 
would  certainly  have  been  the  first  to  insist  on  the 
great  fact.     If,  therefore,  any  conclusion  were  to  be 
drawn  from  the  absence  of  these  verses  in  certain 
manuscripts,  it  could  not,  with  any  reason,  be  that 
the  main  circumstances  narrated  in  them  were  doubt- 
ful, but,  on  the  contrary,  that  they  were  so  certain, 
that  no  special  attention  was  paid  to  the  narrative 
which  contained  them. 


*  For  practical  purposes,  from  writing  of  the  Scribe  of  the 
only  one ;  for  this  leaf  of  the  Vatican  MS.  See  Tischendorf, 
Sinaitic  MS.  is  in  the  hand-  i  Nov.  Test.  Vatic,  p.  xxii. 


160  THE   WITNESS 

But  however  this  may  be,  the  one  point  on  which 
the   other  Gospels   are    agreed   in  insisting  is  that 
our    Lord,    after     rising    from    the  dead,    claimed 
absolute  power  in  heaven  and  in  earth.    '  All  power,' 
He   says   in   St.   Matthew,   'is   given   unto   me  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.   Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father, 
and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teaching 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you :  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world.'  So  in  St.  Luke — 'Thus  it 
is  written,  and  thus  it  behoved  Christ  to  suffer,  and 
to  rise  from  the  dead  the  third  day :  and  that  repen- 
tance and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached  in 
His  name  among  all  nations.'     So  St.  John,  '  These 
things  are  written,  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God  ;  and  that  believing  ye 
might  have  life  through  His  name.'     In  view  of  this 
great  fact,  that  the  Lord  was  actually  living,  and  that 
they  were  in  communion  with  Him,  the  details  of 
the  occurrences  which  attended  his  Resurrection  were 
of  secondary  importance.     '  Why  seek  ye  the  living 
among  the  dead?'  said  the  angels,  'He  is  not  here, 
but  is  risen ;'  and  accordingly  the  thoughts  of  the 
Evangelists  turn  at  once  from  the  tomb  and  from  all 
the  minor  details  on  which  modern  curiosity  would 
dwell,    and   pass  at  once   to   our  Lord's  risen  and 
glorious  life.     Enough  is  told  by  each  Evangelist  to 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  161 

afford  a  general  conception  of  the  character  of  the 
event,  and  to  illustrate  the  particular  purpose  with 
which  he  writes;  but  we  pass  rapidly  from  the 
crucified  to  the  glorified  Lord.  We  are  made  to 
feel  that  the  point  of  importance  consists  in  the 
fact  that  He  is  now  in  glory  and  power,  not  in  the 
mere  incidents  by  which  He  passed  from  humiliation 
to  glory.  The  details  of  His  Passion  were  of  infinite 
importance  as  a  solemn  act  of  the  past,  done  once 
for  all.  But  the  important  point  respecting  His 
Resurrection  was  not  that  He  once  rose,  but  that  He 
was  now  risen,  and  alive  for  evermore ;  and  upon 
this,  in  accordance  with  their  usual  reserve  on 
points  of  secondary  detail,  the  Evangelists  are  con- 
tent mainly  to  insist. 

There  is,  in  fact,  a  great  deficiency,  or  even 
fallacy,  in  a  fine  image  which  has  been  used  on  this 
subject.  It  has  been  said  that  the  church  of  Christ 
was  built  over  an  empty  tomb.  But  it  is  not,  and 
never  was,  the  empty  grave  upon  which  the  faith  of 
the  Apostles,  and  the  life  of  the  church,  was  founded. 
It  was  the  existence  of  our  Saviour  in  glory,  and, 
more  than  that,  His  actual  energy  and  life-giving 
power,  through  His  Spirit,  which  gave  the  Church 
its  foundation,  and  built  up  its  members  as  living 
stones  into  a  holy  temple.  It  is  here,  accordingly, 
that  the  real  controversy  lies  at  the  present  day  with 
respect  to  the  events  we  have  been  considering. 


162  THE    WITNESS 

Modern  controversy  has  led  to  two  remarkable  ad- 
missions on  the  part  of  the  most  determined  oppo- 
nents of  the  Christian  creed — one  that  there  is  no 
doubt  the  grave  of  our  Lord  was  empty  on  the 
resurrection  morning;  the  other,  that  the  disciples 
of  our  Lord  were  thoroughly  and  honestly  convinced 
that  their  Master  had  risen  from  the  dead.  What 
is  alleged  is  that,  however  the  removal  of  our  Lord's 
body  may  be  accounted  for,  the  belief  in  His  resur- 
rection may  be  explained  by  the  theory  of  visions 
and  phantasms.  But  all  these  evasions  are  shattered 
against  the  solid  facts  to  which  this  day  bears 
witness.  The  disciples,  we  have  seen,  did  not  yield 
to  the  impulse,  to  which  mere  visions  would  have 
led  them,  to  proclaim  simply  our  Lord's  deliverance 
from  the  grave.  They  waited  quietly  for  ten  days 
after  His  last  disappearance  from  them,  and  then 
they  appealed  to  the  patent  fact  of  His  exercising  a 
new  and  living  power.  As  an  historic  event,  the 
deliverance  of  our  Lord  from  the  grave  would 
have  been,  no  doubt,  of  profound  and  momentous 
significance ;  but  it  would  not  have  been  the  reality 
upon  which  Christians  lived.  It  was  not  merely,  in 
a  word,  belief  in  the  resurrection,  but  belief  in  a 
risen  and  living  Christ  which  was,  and  is,  the  corner 
stone  of  the  Christian  edifice. 

For  instance,  Baur  says  that  '  the  question  as  to 
the  nature  and  the  reality  of  the  resurrection  lies 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  163 

outside  the  sphere  of  historical  enquiry.  For  the 
purposes  of  historical  considerations  we  must  be 
content  with  the  simple  fact  that  in  the  faith  of  the 
disciples,  the  Eesurrection  of  Jesus  came  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  solid  and  irrefragable  certainty.  It  was 
in  this  faith  that  Christianity  acquired  a  firm  basis 
for  its  historic  development.  What  history  re- 
quires, as  the  necessary  antecedent  of  all  that  is 
to  follow,  is  not  so  much  the  fact  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus,  but  rather  the  belief  that  it  was  a 
fact.'*  This  view  of  Baur,  so  far  as  Christianity  is 
concerned,  is  accepted  by  Strauss,  though  he 
cannot  similarly  restrain  himself  from  enquiring 
into  the  origin  of  the  belief.  But  not  only  is 
it  necessary  to  enquire  into  the  origin  of  the  belief ; 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  how  the  belief  came  to  be 
something  far  more  than  Baur  thus  represents.  ^  as 
it  the  case,  or  was  it  not,  that,  as  St.  Peter  declared 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  new  powers,  new  spiritual 
and  moral  forces,  were  introduced  into  the  world,  and 
that  the  lives  of  those  who  believed  in  Christ  \vrn> 
transformed  ?  Baur  rejects  the  authenticity  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles ;  but,  as  was  shown  in  the 
second  lecture  of  this  course,  he  is  not  followed  in 
this  even  by  some  of  his  own  disciples ;  and  M.  Kenan 
pronounces  unquestionably  in  favour  of  the  authen- 

*  Das  Christetdhum   u,id  die    Jahrhtutdertt :    Tubingen, 
Christliclte  Kin-he  dtrdrci  erttcn     p.  39. 

H    2 


164  THE   WITNESS 

ticity  of  the  Acts.  But  if  they  are  true,  then,  as 
we  have  urged,  the  facts  of  the  day  of  Pentecost  are 
to  be  accounted  for  as  much  as  the  open  grave ;  and 
St.  Peter's  account  of  them  is  the  only  one  which 
meets  the  case. 

But  with  respect  to  this  whole  theory  of  the 
excitement  and  visionary  tendencies  of  the  Apostles 
and  of  the  early  Church,  I  will  ask  you  to  follow  me 
for  a  few  moments  in  contemplating  a  picture  of 
that  Church,  and  of  the  apostolic  mind  which  guided 
it,  drawn  by  the  hand,  as  cannot  reasonably  be 
doubted,  of  the  very  Apostle  upon  whose  utterances  on 
the  day  of  Pentecost  we  have  been  meditating.  The 
first  Epistle  of  St.  Peter  is  brought  before  us  by  the 
Church  in  the  services  of  the  recent  season,  and  it 
presents  a  striking  picture  of  the  tone  of  Christian 
life,  and  of  the  relation  of  that  life  to  the  great  events 
we  have  been  considering.  It  starts  from  a  descrip- 
tion of  the  manifold  trials  which  the  Christians  had 
to  endure,  passing  through  a  fire  of  tribulation,  and 
supported  by  the  lively  hope  of  a  future  salvation 
through  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ.  Their 
faith,  thus  tried  by  fire,  would  be  found  unto  praise 
and  honour  and  glory  at  His  appearing.  On  Him 
their  hopes  and  thoughts  were  centred,  '  "Whom, 
having  not.  seen,  they  loved  ;  in  Whom,  though  now 
they  saw  Him  not,  yet  believing,  they  rejoiced  with 
joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory,  receiving  the  end 


TO  OUK  LORD'S  RESURRECTION          165 

of  their  faith,  even  the  salvation  of  'their  souls.' 
Their  spiritual  life  was  being  daily  deepened  and 
developed,  and  as  living  stones  they  were  being 
built  up  a  spiritual  house,  a  holy  priesthood,  to  offer 
up  spiritual  sacrifices  to  God  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Here,  as  in  the  similar  picture  drawn  by  St.  James, 
there  is  no  excitement,  none  of  that  extreme  enthu- 
siasm to  which  the  phenomena  of  the  early  Christian 
Church  have  been  often  ascribed.  On  the  contrary, 
the  Apostle  bids  his  readers  to  pass  the  time  of  their 
sojourning  here  in  fear,  remembering  at  how  vast  a 
price  their  spiritual  blessings  had  been  bought,  that 
they  were  not  redeemed  with  corruptible  things, 
as  silver  and  gold,  from  their  vain  conversation 
received  by  tradition  from  their  fathers,  but  with 
the  precious  blood  of  Christ.  Their  lively  hope  of 
an  inheritance  incorruptible  and  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  reserved  in  heaven  for  them,  is  not 
to  exalt  them  or  excite  them,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
to  impress  them  with  a  solemn  and  awful  apprehen- 
sion of  the  great  trust  conferred  upon  them,  and  of 
the  terrible  consequences  of  their  faithlessness  to  it. 
They  must  gird  up  the  loins  of  their  minds,  In- 
sober,  obedient,  guileless,  abstaining  from  fleshly 
lusts,  submitting  themselves  to  every  ordinance  of 
man  for  the  Lord's  sake ;  as  free,  but  not  as  using 
their  liberty  for  a  cloak  of  maliciousness,  but  as  th-- 
servants  of  God;  honouring  all  men,  loving  tin- 


166  THE    WITNESS 

brotherhood,  fearing  God,  and  honouring  the  King. 
They  are  to  be  ready  to  give  an  answer  to  every 
man  who  asks  them  a  reason  of  the  hope  that  is 
in  them,  in  meekness  and  fear.  The  meekness  of 
Christ  is  to  be  ever  in  their  thoughts  ;  and  forasmuch 
as  He  had  suffered  for  them  in  the  flesh,  they  are 
to  arm  themselves  likewise  with  the  same  mind. 
The  whole  epistle,  in  short,  is  but  an  expansion  of 
the  exhortation,  '  Be  sober  and  watch  unto  prayer, 
and  above  all  things  have  fervent  charity  among 
yourselves.'  Such  was  the  spirit,  and  such  the 
whole  energy  of  the  early  Church,  wherever  it  was 
undisturbed  by  controversy,  and  its  thoughts  could 
be  concentrated  upon  the  growth  of  the  spiritual 
life. 

Whether  as  an  incidental  evidence  for  the  truth 
of  the  New  Testament  history,  or  for  the  purposes  of 
our  practical  instruction,  there  is  scarcely  anything 
more  remarkable  than  the  juxtaposition  of  ideas 
thus  presented  to  us.  The  Ascension  of  Christ  was 
the  culminating  point  of  our  Saviour's  manifested 
glory.  His  Resurrection  had  been  a  glorious  mani- 
festation of  His  greatness.  He  was  declared,  says 
St.  Paul,  to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according 
to  the  Spirit  of  holiness,by  the  Resurrection  from  the 
dead.  After  His  Resurrection  He  was  surrounded  by 
an  atmosphere  of  majesty  and  mysterious  power. 
He  was  visibly  superior  to  the  ordinary  conditions 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  167 

and  limitations  of  human  life,  and  there  was  that 
about  Him  which  inspired  the  Apostles  with  an 
abiding   sense  of  awe   in  His   presence.     But  his 
Ascension,  interpreted  to  them  by  angelic  messen- 
gers, was  at  once  recognized  by  them  as  bespeaking 
His  assumption  of  inconceivable  glory.     It  would  be 
doing  great  injustice  to  the  noble  conceptions  with 
which  the   minds  of  Jews  like  the  Apostles  were 
familiar,  to  suppose  that  by  the  heaven,  into  which 
they  understood  Him  to  have  ascended,  they  meant 
no  more  than  the  mere  physical  firmament.     When 
He  said  to  Nicodemus  '  No  man  hath  ascended  up  to 
heaven  but  He  that  came  down  from  heaven,  even 
the  Son  of  Man  which  is  in  heaven,'  He  was  at  once 
understood  to  be  speaking  of  that  secret  place,  that 
holy  of  holies,  which  God  Himself  inhabited.    '  Go 
to  my  brethren,'  He  had  said,  '  and  say  unto  them, 
I  ascend  unto  my  Father  and  your  Father,  unto  my 
God  and  your  God.'     'The  heaven  is  my  throne,' 
saith  the  Lord, '  and  the  earth  is  my  footstool.'     Ac- 
cordingly, the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  speaks  of  our 
'  great  High  Priest  that  hath  passed  into  the  heavens,' 
'  made  higher  than  the  heavens ; '   and  St.  Paul  says 
that  'He    that   descended    is   the  same   also   that 
ascended  up  far  above  all  heavens.'     In  short,  the 
word    heaven  has  various   meanings   in  Scripture. 
But  judged  by  all  the  associations  of  the  word  when 
applied  to  our  Lord's  Ascension,  it  is  evident  that 


168  THE   WITNESS 

the  Apostles,  from  the  first,  gave  it  the  very  loftiest 
signification.  Whatever  heaven  was  higher  than  all 
the  rest,  whatever  sanctuary  was  holier  than  all 
which  are  called  holies,  whatever  place  was  deemed 
of  the  greatest  dignity  in  the  courts  above,  there  and 
unto  that  presence  did  they  believe  our  Saviour  to 
have  entered.  Thenceforth,  as  this  Epistle  of  St. 
Peter  bears  witness,  their  whole  thoughts  and  affec- 
tions were  centred  upon  Him  in  His  glory.  They 
looked  to  Him  for  all  grace  and  favour,  and  they 
waited  patiently  for  His  full  revelation  hereafter. 
But  now  let  us  observe  by  what  means  and  in  what 
circumstances  they  conceived  that  they  were  main- 
taining communion  with  Him  and  sharing  His 
glory.  With  such  magnificent  conceptions  of  His 
greatness,  it  would  not  have  seemed  unnatural  if 
they  had  beeD  absorbed  in  some  ecstatic  visions,  and 
had  been  carried  away  by  spiritual  excitement.  The 
visible  glory  of  the  Ascension,  the  angelic  message, 
the  occasional  gifts  of  miraculous  power,  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  the  spiritual  endowments 
conferred  upon  them,  might  all  have  tended  to 
produce  in  them  such  a  mood  of  exaltation.  But 
the  effect  is  precisely  the  reverse.  That  which  is 
aroused  in  them  is  the  deepest  humility,  patience, 
simplicity,  and  submission  to  trials  and  temptations. 
There  were  moments  when  some  Apostles,  like  St. 
Paul,  might  be  caught  up  into  the  third  heaven,  and 


TO    OUR   LORDS   RESURRECTION  160 

hear  unspeakable  words,  not  lawful  for  a  man  to 
utter.  But,  for  the  most  part,  Apostles  and  ordinary 
Christians  alike  found  in  the  Saviour's  Ascension, 
and  in  the  visions  of  glory  which  it  opened  to  them, 
only  a  stimulus  and  support  in  the  humblest  and 
most  modest  duties. 

This  result  is  perhaps  mainly  due  to  the  con- 
sideration of  the  complete  continuity  which  existed 
between  the  Saviour's  life  on  earth  and  His  existence 
in  heaven.  'This  same  Jesus,'  said  the  angels, 
'  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall 
so  corne  in  like  manner  as  ye  have  seen  Him  go  into 
heaven ;'  and  similarly  their  thoughts  were  always 
carried  back  to  that  same  Jesus  as  He  had  lived  and 
died  among  them.  They  could  not  see  Him  now, 
as  St.  Peter  says ;  but  they  had  seen  Him,  and  had 
companied  with  Him  during  His  ministry.  They 
had  seen  and  had  heard  all  His  humiliation,  His 
meekness  and  His  patience,  and  they  recurred  to 
this  as  to  an  experience  in  which  they  could  be  sure 
of  being  one  with  Him  and  sharing  His  real  glory. 
The  Jesus  who  was  exalted  was  the  suffering  Jesus, 
the  man  of  sorrows  and  acquainted  with  grief,  and 
it  was  the  truth  and  patience  of  His  life  \vhi.-h  they 
contemplated  as  now  exalted.  His  human  life 
w;is  not,  so  to  speak,  an  accident  of  His  exist- 
ence, which  had  been  laid  aside,  as  a  thing  to  be 
forgotten,  after  His  exaltation.  It  had  remain* d. 


170  THE  WITNESS 

and  must  always  remain,  an  essential  part  of  His 
experience,  an  indispensable  element  in  His  nature. 
Hereafter  they  hoped  to  share  the  glory  upon  which 
He  had  entered ;  but  for  the  present,  while  upon 
earth,  as  He  had  been,  they  could  chiefly  be  one 
with  Him  in  those  humble  graces  of  which  He  had 
been  so  perfect  an  exemplar.  It  is  thus  impossible 
to  separate  any  one  part  of  the  mind  of  the  Apostles 
from  the  rest.  He  that  ascended  is  the  same  also 
that  descended,  and  the  very  depths  of  earth  are 
thus  united  to  the  loftiest  heights  of  heaven.  Thus 
it  is  that  one  part  of  the  New  Testament  supports 
the  others,  that  the  Gospels,  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
and  the  Epistles  combine  to  produce  one  harmonious 
result.  Consider  them  separately,  and  they  may  be 
difficult  of  comprehension;  but  read  them  united, 
and  the  story  they  tell  of  the  Incarnation,  the 
Passion,  the  Resurrection,  and  the  spiritual  life  of 
the  Church  after  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  exhibits 
a  complete  unity. 

These  considerations  enable  us  to  close  this 
lecture  with  some  thoughts  which  may  help  us 
to  rise  above  controversy,  and  which  may  be  a 
support  to  us  in  many  a  difficulty  of  faith.  We 
have  seen  that  St  Peter's  faith  in  the  Resurrec- 
tion was  not  simply  faith  in  a  past  event,  but  was 
faith  in  the  living  Lord  who  had  risen  and  ascended, 
and  who  now  bestows  all  grace  upon  His  people. 


TO  OUR  LORD'S  RESURRECTION  171 

His  appeal  to  the  Jews  was  built  alike  on  the  past 
and  on  the  present,  and  the  present  was  as  important 
an  element  in  it  as  the  past.  It  may  be  the  same 
to  ourselves.  Of  course,  if  the  historic  reality  of  the 
events  narrated  in  the  Gospels  could  be  disproved, 
we  should  have  to  reconsider  our  position  altogether ; 
and  it  is  hard  to  see  what  would  remain  of  the 
beliefs  and  convictions  which  so  many  generations  of 
Christians  have  held  dear.  But  there  is  no  such 
disproof;  and  on  the  other  hand  we  possess — every 
Christian  should  possess  in  his  own  experience — a 
conviction,  not  less  clear  than  that  to  which  St.  Peter 
appealed,  of  the  living  power  and  life  of  our  risen 
and  ascended  Lord.  After  all,  there  is  this  per- 
manent evidence  to  the  truth  of  our  Lord's  Resur- 
rection, and  to  His  present  glory  and  power,  that  all 
Christians,  and  the  Church  at  large,  can  approach 
Him  by  prayer,  and  receive  from  Him  a  grace  and 
power,  of  which  they  may  be  as  assured  as  of  any 
other  fact  in  their  experience,  to  enable  them  con- 
tinually to  realize  in  increasing  degree  the  graces  of 
the  spiritual  life.  In  proportion  as  we  realize  this 
privilege,  will  our  path  be  untroubled  by  the 
shadows  of  doubt,  and  shall  we  be  enabled  to  bear 
witness  to  others  of  the  power  of  the  Lord's  Resur- 
rection. 


(     172     ) 


LECTURE    VIII 


OUK  LOED'S  EETUEN  TO  JUDGMENT 

"  And  while  they  looked  stedfastly  towards  heaven  as  He  went  up, 
behold,  two  men  stood  by  them  in  white  apparel ;  which  also  said, 
Ye  men  of  Galilee,  why  stand  ye  gazing  up  into  heaven  ?  This  same 
Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into  heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like 
manner  as  ye  have  seen  Him  go  into  heaven." — Acts  i.  10,  11. 

IT  must  at  least  confirm  our  faith  in  those  angelic 
manifestations  which  are  narrated  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment to  observe  how  profound  is  the  significance 
on  each  occasion  of  the  utterances  of  the  heavenly 
messengers.  The  name  of  Jesus,  with  the  assurance 
that  'He  shall  save  His  people  from  their  sins,' 
has,  from  the  moment  it  was  uttered  till  the  present 
day,  embodied  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  Gospel. 
The  song  of  "the  multitude  of  the  heavenly  host 
near  Bethlehem,  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and 
on  earth  peace,  good  will  towards  men,'  has  been 
similarly  felt,  at  all  times,  to  express  the  essential 
glory  of  the  Christian  dispensation.  The  clear  and 
calm  gaze  of  heaven  seems  to  penetrate  to  the  heart 
of  the  great  mystery  it  contemplates,  and  the  central 
truth  is  presented  to  our  meditation  in  one  pregnant 
phrase.  The  same  characteristic  marks  the  utterance 


OUR  LORD'S  RETURN  TO  JUDGMENT        173 

of  the  angels  to  the  Apostles  on  the  occasion  of  the 
Ascension.  There  is  something  intensely  natural  and 
vivid  in  the  description  of  the  Apostles  looking  sted- 
fastly  towards  heaven  as  He  went  up — all  their  hearts 
and  minds  yearning  after  their  Lord,  lately  restored 
to  them  from  the  grave,  with  whom  they  had  lived  in 
sacred  communion  for  forty  days,  and  now  suddenly 
vanishing  from  them  into  those  mysterious  depths. 
At  that  moment  angelic  voices  recall  them  to 
earth  and  to  the  realities  around  them,  and  tell 
them  what  is  the  chief  significance,  for  the  prac- 
tical purposes  of  life,  of  the  event  they  were 
witnessing.  That  which  it  was  of  supreme  impor- 
tance for  them  to  realize  and  keep  in  mind  wu-\ 
that  the  Lord  who  had  thus  left  them  would  return, 
the  same  in  nature,  in  character,  and  iu  power — 
'  This  same  Jesus,  which  is  taken  up  from  you  into 
heaven,  shall  so  come  in  like  manner  as  ye  have 
seen  Him  go  into  heaven.'  All  their  life  was  to  be 
controlled  by  this  belief;  their  thoughts  were  ever 
to  look  forward  to  that  great  day.  He  had 
ascended  into  heaven  and  had  assumed  His  seat  of 
power  and  judgment  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  and  He  would  hereafter  return  to  execute 
that  judgment  visibly,  in  human  form,  and  with  tin- 
human  as  well  as  divine  authority  with  which  they 
were  familiar.  Thus,  at  the  very  moment  of  tin- 
Ascension*  the  thoughts  of  the  disciples 


174  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

directed  by  heavenly  guidance  to  the  future  return 
of  our  Lord  to  establish  his  kingdom  finally,  and  to 
execute  judgment;  and  in  accordance  with  this 
direction,  the  creed  of  the  Church  has  ever  com- 
bined the  two  truths  in  intimate  connection.  '  He 
ascended  into  heaven,  and  sitteth  on  the  right  hand 
of  God  the  Father  Almighty :  from  thence  He  shall 
come  to  judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.' 

That  the  last  angelic  words  uttered  respecting 
our  Lord's  work  and  office,  at  the  moment  of  His 
departure,  should  thus  point  us  forward  to  His  future 
return  to  judge  the  world,  is  a  fact  of  deep  and 
manifold  significance ;  and  it  merits  our  attention 
the  more  at  the  present  day,  by  reason  of  the  vivid 
light  it  casts  upon  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  of 
our  perplexities  and  controversies.  For  its  due 
appreciation  it  is  important  to  bear  in  mind 
how  exactly  this  final  angelic  message  corresponds 
with  the  whole  tenour  of  our  Lord's  ministry  and 
teaching.  We  are  told  that  His  preaching  was  from 
the  first  summed  up  in  the  message,  *  Repent,  for 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  ;'  and,  although 
that  proclamation  has  a  double  aspect — of  salvation 
no  less  than  of  judgment — the  aspect  of  judgment 
would  seem  to  be  the  primary  one.  Such,  certainly, 
was  its  meaning  in  the  mouth  of  John  the  Baptist. 
He  explained  his  proclamation  to  mean  that  One 
was  coming  after  him  whose  fan  was  in  His  hand, 


TO   JUDGMENT  175 

\vho  would  throughly  purge  His  floor,  and  gather 
His  wheat  into  the  garner,  but  who  would  burn  up 
the  chaff  with  unquenchable  fire.  That  this  mean- 
ing, indeed,  was  prominent  in  our  Lord's  proclama- 
tion of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  forcibly  illustrated 
by  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  To  regard  that 
Sermon  as  simply  a  collection  of  maxims  of  morality 
is  to  miss  its  most  distinctive  characteristic — that 
characteristic  which  aroused  the  astonishment  of 
those  to  whom  it  was  spoken — its  tone  of  authority. 
It  not  only  proclaims  moral  duties  ;  but  it  proclaims 
the  sanction  for  them.  It  speaks,  throughout,  of 
men  being  brought  under  the  operation  of  the  laws 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven — laws  more  severe  than 
any  of  which  they  had  hitherto  been  conscious,  and 
of  all  their  actions  being  done  under  the  eve  of  a 
Father  in  heaven,  who  will  reward  or  punish  them 
in  accordance  with  their  most  secret  conduct.  More 
particularly,  it  concludes  by  a  clear  declaration  that 
an  appointed  day  will  come  when  this  judgment 
will  be  executed,  and  that  our  Lord  Himself  will 
preside  over  its  execution.  '  Many  will  say  to  me 
in  that  day,  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in 
Thy  name?  and  in  Thy  name  have  cast  out  devils?  and 
in  Thy  name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And  then 
will  I  profess  unto  them,  I  never  knew  you :  depart 
from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity.'  '  Therefore,'  He 
adds,  <  whosoever  heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine, 


176  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto  a  wise  man ;' 
and  '  Every  one  that  heareth  these  sayings  of  Mine, 
and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish 
man.' 

In  view  of  this  conspicuous  illustration  of  our 
Lord's  preaching,  taken  from  one  of  His  most  fami- 
liar and,  as  some  have  thought,  least  dogmatic  utter- 
ances— one,  moreover,  which  is  placed  by  the  Evan- 
gelist in  the  forefront  of  his  account  of  the  Gospel- 
it  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  dwell  on  the  numerous 
other  passages  in  which  our  Lord  announces  more 
specifically  and  solemnly  His  future  return  in  glory 
to  execute  judgment.  It  may  serve  to  confirm  their 
force,  however,  to  observe  how  frequently,  as  in  the 
instance  just  mentioned,  they  occur,  so  to  say.  inci- 
dentally, to  support  some  other  truth  or  declaration  ; 
as  though  the  great  and  awful  fact  were  ever  pre- 
sent to  our  Lord's  mind,  and  He  desired  it  to  be 
similarly  present  to  the  mind  of  His  disciples,  as 
giving  to  all  He  says  the  supreme  sanction  of  His 
power  and  His  will  to  put  it  into  execution.  It  is 
not  only  that  there  will  be  a  judgment,  but  that  He 
will  Himself  execute  it.  What  we  are  told  by  the 
Evangelist,  again  and  again,  is  that  the  Son  of 
Man  will  come  in  His  glory,  and  will  sit  on  the 
throne  of  His  glory,  and  will  gather  together  all 
His  elect  from  the  four  winds,  and  all  nations  shall 
be  gathered  befcre  Him,  and  He  shall  separate  them 


TO   JUDGMENT  177 

as  a  shepherd  divideth  his  sheep  from  the  goats,  and 
that  He  will  reward  every  man  according  to  his 
works.  It  was  upon  this  declaration  of  His  future 
return  in  power  and  judgment,  that  He  was  finally 
condemned  by  the  Jewish  Council.  In  reply  to  the 
adjuration  of  the  High-priest, '  Art  thou  the  Christ 
the  Son  of  the  Blessed?'  Jesus  said,  'I  am;  and 
hereafter  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of  Man  sitting  on  the 
right  hand  of  power,  and  coming  in  the  clouds  of 
heaven.'  'Then  the  high-priest  rent  his  clothes, 
and  saith,  What  need  we  any  further  witnesses?  Ye 
have  heard  the  blasphemy;  what  think  ye?  And 
they  all  condemned  Him  to  be  guilty  of  death/* 

Now,  the  first  observation  which  may  be  made 
upon  a  review  of  these  awful  declarations  is,  that 
they  are  a  conclusive  proof  of  the  manner  in  which 
our  Lord's  claims  as  a  moral  teacher  are  indissolubly 
associated  with  His  superhuman  and  divine  nature. 
In  these  repeated  and  solemn  assertions  we  are  able 
to  rest  on  broad  grounds,  independent  of  critical  or 
philosophical  disputes.  Our  Lord's  assertions  ol' 
His  power  and  right  to  judge  mankind,  and  of  His 
future  coming  for  that  purpose,  are  common  to  all 
the  Evangelists,  and  are  at  least  as  strong  in  St. 
Matthew  as  in  St.  John.  The  latter  Evangelist, 
indeed,  records  some  sayings  which  throw  a  light 
upon  the  relation  in  which  our  Lord  stands  to  God 

*  St.  Mark  xiv.  01-01. 


178  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

the  Father,  in  His  office  as  Judge.  '  The  Father,' 
we  are  told,  'judgeth  no  man,  but  hath  committed 
all  judgment  unto  the  Son ;  that  all  men  should 
honour  the  Son,  even  as  they  honour  the  Father. 
For  as  the  Father  hath  life  in  Himself,  so  hath  He 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  Himself;  and  hath 
given  Him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also, 
because  He  is  the  Son  of  Man.'  The  power  of 
judging  all  men  must  lie  in  the  hands  of  God  alone, 
and  any  person  who  exercises  that  power  must  be 
endued  with  the  omnipotence  and  omniscience  of 
God  Himself.  St.  John  thus  reveals  the  necessary 
condition  in  our  Lord's  relation  to  the  Father  for 
His  exercising  the  office  of  Judge.  But  the  decla- 
ration that  He  will  exercise  that  office,  and  will 
exercise  it  with  the  whole  authority  and  power  of 
the  Godhead,  is  made  or  implied  throughout 
His  teaching,  and  catnot  be  eliminated  from  any 
of  the  Gospels  without  such  an  entire  annihilation 
of  their  historical  character  as  would  prevent  our 
placing  any  reliance  on  their  account  of  our 
Lord's  words. 

To  take  but  one  instance,  consider  what  a  tre- 
mendous claim  is  involved  in  the  familiar  parable 
of  the  division  between  the  sheep  and  the  goats. 
There  are  some  persons  who  would  use  that  parable, 
like  many  other  portions  of  the  Gospels,  as  though 
it  were  simply  a  touching  and  forcible  exhortation 


TO   JUDGMENT  179 

to  beneficence.  But  it  must  be  apparent  upon  reflec- 
tion how  much  more  is  involved  in  it.  The  blessing 
and  the  curse  in  that  last  awful  scene  are  bestowed, 
not  simply  upon  works  of  benevolence  or  unkind- 
ness  as  such,  but  upon  works  of  benevolence  or 
unkindness  considered  as  in  effect  done  to  our  Lord 
Himself.  The  parable  depicts  all  mankind  as  stand- 
ing in  a  vital  relation  to  Christ,  and  as  blessed  or 
cursed  according  as  they  have  served  either  Him  or 
those  whom  He  adopts  as  His  own.  Eecall  the 
final  sentence  of  the  scene,  '  Then  shall  He  answer 
them,  saying,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inasmuch  as 
ye  did  it  not  to  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it 
not  to  Me.  And  these  shall  go  away  into  everlasting 
punishment.'  Had  the  speaker  been  only  one  of 
the  sons  of  men,  what  a  tremendous  presumption 
would  have  been  involved  in  such  a  juxtaposition  of 
words !  '  Ye  did  it  not  to  Me :  and  these  shall  go 
away  into  everlasting  punishment.'  The  whole  fate 
of  mankind  depending  on  their  relation  to  Him  ! 
To  be  the  Judge  of  every  human  soul,  the  supreme 
arbiter  of  every  act,  and  thought,  and  word— this 
is  the  character  in  which  our  Lord  presents  Himself 
to  us  throughout  the  Gospels,  in  some  of  His  sim- 
plest utterances  as  well  as  in  His  most  mysterious ; 
and  in  this  claim  alone  He  reveals  Himself  to  us 
as  our  Lord  and  our  God. 

Our  Lord's  office  as  Judge  is,  in  fact,  one  of  the 

N  2 


]80  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

first  great  practical  realities  which  are  at  stake  in 
that  long  battle  which  has  raged  around  the  Church, 
and  sometimes  within  it,  from  the  earliest  times  to  the 
present  hour,  respecting  the  nature  of  our  Lord.  We 
may  sometimes  hear  that  question  discussed  as  if  it 
were  to  a  large  extent  a  speculative  one.  That  is  the 
manner  in  which  it  was  represented  by  Arian  writers 
in  the  time  of  St.  Athanasius ;  and  the  first  ages  of 
the  Church,  and  the  very  lifetime  of  the  Apostles, 
were  at  least  as  rife  as  the  present  day  with  attempts 
to  create  some  other  image  of  our  Lord  than  that 
which  is  furnished  by  the  records  of  His  miraculous 
birth  in  St.  Matthew  and  St.  Luke,  of  His  eternal 
Godhead  in  St.  John,  and  of  His  Ascension  to  sit  on 
the  right  hand  of  the  Father  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  ]f  He  were  only  a  teacher,  such  attempts 
might  not  vitally  conflict  with  His  authority.  But 
He  claims  to  be  much  more  than  a  teacher.  In  the 
very  first  place  He  claims  to  be  a  judge;  and  thus 
a  debate  respecting  His  nature  involves  a  debate 
respecting  His  jurisdiction.  He  asserts  a  preroga- 
tive and  power  to  which  it  would  be  blasphemy,  as 
the  High-priest  declared,  for  a  mere  man  to  aspire, 
and  He  has  indissolubly  united  this  claim  with  His 
whole  moral  and  spiritual  teaching.  That  is  the 
character  in  which,  at  the  very  outset  as  at  the  end 
of  His  ministry,  He  came  before  the  Jews ;  that  is 
the  character  in  which  His  angels  revealed  Him  as 


TO   JUDGMENT  181 

He  departed  from  earth ;  that  is  the  character  in 
which  He  comes  before  us  now.  It  must,  moreover, 
be  observed  that  the  acknowledgment  or  rejection 
of  Him  in  that  character  is  declared  by  Him  to  be 
a  point  on  which  His  judgment  at  the  last  day  will 
be  pronounced  with  special  solemnity.  It  was  in 
connection  with  His  claim  to  be  the  Christ  of  God, 
divine  amidst  all  His  humiliation,  that  He  uttered 
the  solemn  warning,  '  Whosoever  shall  be  ashamed 
of  Me  and  of  My  words,  of  him  shall  the  Son  of  Man 
be  ashamed,  when  He  shall  come  in  His  own  glory, 
and  in  His  Father's,  and  of  the  holy  angels.' 

Accordingly  we  find  that  this  principle  occu- 
pies as  prominent  a  place  in  the  preaching  of  the 
Apostles  as  in  that  of  our  Lord  Himself.  In  the 
crucial  example  of  St.  Paul's  preaching  to  the 
Gentiles — his  speech  at  Athens — we  observe  that  he 
employs  this  truth  as  the  very  lever  with  which 
he  would  move  the  world.  '  The  times  of  this 
ignorance  God  winked  at ;  but  now  commandeth  all 
men  everywhere  to  repent;  because  He  hath  ap- 
pointed a  day,  in  the  which  He  will  judge  the  world 
in  righteousness  by  that  Man  whom  He  hath  or- 
dained ;  whereof  He  hath  given  assurance  unto  all 
men,  in  that  He  hath  raised  Him  from  the  dead.' 
In  writing  to  the  Komans,  the  Apostle's  argument 
at  the  outset  speaks  of  the  day  in  which  God  will 
judge  the  secrets  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ,  according 


182  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

to  his  Gospel.  The  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus  is  ever 
prominent  in  his  thoughts.  He  reiterates  that  we 
must  all  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ ; 
and  he  looked  forward  to  that  day  for  the  crown  of 
righteousness  of  which,  at  the  close  of  his  life,  he 
could  indulge  a  confident  hope.  But  the  Apocalypse 
shows  us  most  conclusively  how  vast  a  space  this 
truth  occupied  in  Apostolic  thought  and  teaching. 
The  New  Testament  may  almost  be  regarded  as 
summed  up  in  this  vision  of  our  Lord's  return  to 
judgment,  and  in  His  revelation  as  Alpha  and  Omega, 
the  first  and  the  last. 

In  fact,  the  prominence  which  this  belief  occupies 
in  Apostolic  thought  is  so  evident,  that  it  has  even 
been  made  a  ground  of  objection  to  the  Apostles' 
authority,  that  they  lived  in  an  expectation,  which 
proved  to  be  unfounded,  of  our  Lord's  immediate  re- 
turn. It  is  probable,  indeed,  if  we  take  the  most 
natural  interpretation  of  some  of  their  expressions, 
that  they  were  mistaken  on  this  point.  But  it  is 
the  very  point  on  which  our  Lord  expressly  said 
that  they  would  be  left  in  ignorance,  and  therefore 
liable  to  be  mistaken ;  and  it  would  seem  that  the 
particular  time  at  which  He  would  return  to  judg- 
ment in  no  way  affects,  as  respects  individuals,  the 
supreme  import  of  the  fact  itself.  If  it  be  a  fact,  it 
is  equally  important  to  us  all,  whether  it  be  near  or 
far  off ;  and  even  if  the  Apostles  had  not  been  in 


TO   JUDGMENT  183 

the  error  supposed  in  point  of  time  and  date,  the 
intensity  with  which  their  thoughts  were  preoccu- 
pied with  the  subject  would  have  been  none  the  less 
justifiable  and  inevitable ;  and  we  ought  ourselves  to 
enter  into  their  feelings  and  share  them  to  the  full. 
The  truth  that  the  consummation  of  all  things  will 
involve  a  moral  judgment  upon  every  human  being, 
and  that  this  judgment  will  be  pronounced  by  our 
Lord,  and  in  accordance  with  His  revealed  will  and 
word,  is  one  which,  wherever  it  is  accepted,  must 
needs  overpower  all  other  considerations.  It  esta- 
blishes once  for  all  a  fixed  and  central  point  for 
human  life  and  for  each  individual  soul. 

We  may  reflect  with  advantage  upon  the  bearing  of 
the  principle  in  this  respect  upon  the  circumstances 
in  which  it  was  first  proclaimed.  The  world  to  which 
the  Apostles  were  commissioned  to  preach  was  dis- 
tracted by  the  most  various  views  of  the  object  of 
life,  the  good  of  life,  and  the  rule  of  life.  As  Horace 
describes  himself,  men  fluctuated  backwards  and 
forwards  between  one  philosophy  and  another,  as 
thought,  or  fancy,  or  pleasure  led  them.  The  end 
of  life  was  as  obscure  as  its  origin  ;  and  amidst  all 
this  doubt  and  vague  speculation,  moral  energy  and 
resolution  were  continually  growing  feebler.  In 
this  state  of  thought  and  feeling,  the  Apostles  were 
able  to  proclaim  an  absolute  certainty  to  every  soul ; 
and  a  certainty  of  the  most  clear  and  vivid  cha- 


184  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

racter.  They  proclaimed,  not  merely  in  general 
terms,  a  judgment  to  come — a  belief  which  all  the 
most  thoughtful  heathen  had  anticipated — but  a 
judgment  by  a  particular  Person,  whose  character 
and  will  they  were  able  to  describe,  and  whose  claim 
to  submission  was  accompanied  by  the  most  gracious 
assurances.  All  else  would  pass  away ;  it  would 
pass  away  to  the  individual,  and  it  would  come  to 
an  end  in  itself.  But  our  Lord  had  declared  that 
those  who  believed  in  Him,  and  strove  to  obey  Him, 
were  building  their  houses  on  an  eternal  rock,  and 
that  He  would  return  to  give  them  everlasting  life, 
and  honour,  and  blessing.  What  wonder  that,  in  pro- 
portion as  this  assurance  was  accepted,  and  believed 
as  a  certainty,  it  absorbed  the  souls  of  men,  and  over- 
bore all  other  influences  ?  It  gave  to  Christian  life 
at  once  its  peculiar  moral  character,  and  its  special 
vigour  and  confidence.  The  principle  of  duty,  of 
following  right  because  of  right,  can  never,  indeed, 
in  any  decay  of  society,  lose  its  hold  over  the  more 
noble  souls.  But  as  the  world  is  constituted,  such  a 
principle  cannot,  standing  by  itself,  exert  the  same 
inspiring  influence  as  when  invigorated  by  the  per- 
sonal assurances  of  our  Lord,  and  sustained  by  the 
conviction  that  He  will  certainly  vindicate  it  and 
reward  obedience  to  it.  Alike  in  the  old  world  and 
in  the  present  day,  in  the  absence  of  Christian  faith, 
too  many  men  can  only  do  their  duty  in  sadness  of 


TO   JUDGMENT  185 

heart,  and  with  little  to  comfort  them  under  the  dis- 
appointments which  life  must  often  bring  them ;  and 
they  are  necessarily  destitute  of  the  expansion,  the 
sympathy,  and  the  energy  of  soul  by  which  alone 
their  own  nature  can  be  fully  developed,  and  by 
which  they  exert  their  best  influence  upon  others. 
But  when  it  was  proclaimed  to  men  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in  all  His  combined  mercy 
and  justice,  would  hereafter  bring  every  work  into 
judgment,  and  that  His  gracious  and  holy  will  was 
the  beginning  and  end,  the  Alpha  and  Omega  of 
human  life,  all  hesitation,  and  irresolution,  and 
melancholy,  were  at  once  swept  away.  Men  could 
know  in  Whom  they  believed.  They  could  study 
His  character ;  they  could  obtain  the  guidance  of 
His  Spirit  by  prayer;  they  could  be  sure  of  His 
assistance  in  growing  more  and  more  like  Him  ;  and 
life  became,  for  all  practical  purposes,  clear,  and 
hopeful,  and  full  of  peace.  What  does  it  matter  to 
such  a  belief  whether,  as  the  early  Christians  sup- 
posed, our  Lord  was  soon  to  return,  or  whether 
centuries  were  to  elapse  before  His  reappearance? 
The  one  important  fact  was  that  He  would  return, 
to  execute  judgment,  to  save  and  bless  His  own ;  and 
this  great  reality  was  supreme.  It  solved  at  once 
the  main  problems  of  existence,  it  settled  life  on  an 
eternal  basis,  opened  up  its  true  sources,  and  enabled 


186  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

every  one  to  devote  himself  to  the  lawful  work  of  his 
calling  in  a  spirit  of  perfect  truth,  freedom,  and 
fearlessness. 

For,  let  it  be  observed,  the  fact  that  this  judg- 
ment of  our  Lord  gives  supreme  importance  to  the 
moral  and  spiritual  character  of  our  actions  is  so 
far  from  placing  it  out  of  harmony  with  the  busi- 
ness of  life,  that  this  is  the  only  condition  on 
which  it  could  control  all  the  work  of  life  without 
exception.  The  one  quality  which  is  supreme  in 
all  work,  of  whatever  kind,  is  the  moral  quality. 
Other  qualities  must  needs  vary  indefinitely.  The 
physical  and  intellectual  powers  present  an  endless 
diversity  both  in  degree  and  in  kind.  But  truth  in 
work,  and  faithfulness  to  the  domestic  or  social 
relations  in  which  we  are  placed — these  conditions 
are  the  same  in  every  occupation,  and  in  proportion 
as  they  are  fulfilled,  is  the  utmost  amount  of  intel- 
lectual or  physical  power  developed,  and  does  work 
of  all  kinds  prosper.  The  moral  duties,  for  our  dis- 
charge of  which  we  shall  be  judged,  are  the  hinges  on 
which  the  whole  world  turns.  Let  those  be  duly  per- 
formed, and  everything  else  will  follow,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  various  laws  which  God  has  impressed 
upon  our  nature.  We  have  but  to  seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  His  righteousness,  and  all  secondary 
things  shall  be  added  unto  us.  The  whole  of  life, 


TO   JUDGMENT  187 

therefore,  without  any  exception,  was  illuminated 
and  revivified  by  this  revelation  of  our  Lord  as  the 
Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 

In  proportion  as  we  grasp  the  same  principle,  and 
make  it  the  starting-point  of  all  our  thought,  shall 
we   be   sensible   of    a  similar    illumination  and  a 
similar  vigour.     We  need  to  maintain  that  grasp  in 
two  respects — alike  with  reference  to  those  general 
discussions  respecting  the  conduct  and  the  organiza- 
tion of  life,  which  are  forced  upon  our  attention  by 
the   literature   and   thought  of  the  time,  and   in 
respect  to  our  private   lives.      In   regard   to  the 
former,  it  cannot  but  be  the  duty  of  a  Christian  to 
adopt  a  more  decided  tone  than  that  to  which,  from 
feelings  of  mistaken  kindness,  and,  perhaps,  of  mis- 
placed modesty,  we  are  often  inclined.     From  the 
point  of  view  of  the  great  truth  we  have  been  con- 
sidering, nothing,  surely,  can  be  more  lamentable, 
than  that  such  a  vast  amount  of  time  and  energy 
should  be  consumed  in  the  constant  discussion  of 
moral  and  religious  problems  on  other  than  Christian 
principles.     On  those  principles,  no  philosophy  can 
reach  a  true  result,  no  moral  system  can   lead  to 
sound  conclusions,  no  system  of  education,  whether 
private  or  national,  whether  at  home,  or  in  schools, 
or  in  Universities,  can  be  trusted,  which  is  not  based 
upon  the  recognition  of  our  Lord  as  the  centre  of 
all  God's  purposes,  and  as  the  Judge  of  all  mankind. 


188  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

He  claims  to  have  declared  the  moral  principles  by 
which  all  mankind  will  be  judged,  by  which  every 
act  and  word  and  thought  will  be  measured,  and  con- 
sequently to  have  determined  the  eternal  standard 
and  rule  of  moral  action. 

It  is  indeed  the  glory  of  the  Gospel,  or  rather 
it  is  our  Lord's  glory,  that  every  truth,  of  what- 
ever kind,  belongs  to  Him — is  a  part  of  His  wisdom 
and  His  will ;  and  just  as  the  greatest  Christian 
Fathers  regarded  the  philosophy  of  Greece  as  sharing 
in  some  degree  with  the  Law  of  Moses  the  office 
of  being  a  schoolmaster  to  the  world  to  bring 
it  unto  Christ,  so  whatever  moral  truths  may  be 
established  by  independent  speculation  must  needs 
be  so  many  additional  steps  on  the  road  towards 
Him  who  is  the  Truth.  But  this  does  not  alter  the 
fact  that  it  is  alike  our  privilege  and  our  duty,  in 
the  present  day,  to  start  on  every  subject  from  the 
central  truth  that  our  Saviour  is  the  Lord  and  Judge 
of  all  men,  to  estimate  every  moral  and  religious 
argument  or  opinion  by  the  standard  of  His  words, 
and  to  depend  wholly  on  the  promised  aid  of  His 
Spirit  to  guide  us  aright.  We  cannot  allow  less 
than  this  to  a  principle  of  so  absolute  and  supreme 
a  character  as  that  which  we  have  been  contemplat- 
ing. It  may  be  pressed  too  far,  or  injudiciously 
applied,  as  it  was  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  physical 
questions  were  determined  by  doubtful  inferences 


TO  JUDGMENT  189 

from  theological  premises.  But  we  have  of  late  been 
certainly  tending  towards  the  other  extreme,  and 
such  reflections  as  these  may  well  suggest  to  us  a 
reconsideration  of  our  position  and  our  duty  in  the 
matter.  There  is  one  moral  and  religious  question 
which  must  take  precedence  of  all  others,  and  that 
is  the  old  one,  'What  think  ye  of  Christ?'  Do 
you  accept  His  claim  to  be  the  Judge  of  quick  and 
dead,  and  the  Lord  of  life  alike  iu  this  world  and  in 
the  next  ?  He  comes  forward  with  that  claim,  and 
there  is  no  similar  claim  in  competition  with  it.  If 
a  man  unhappily  reject  it,  he  can  only  fall  back  on 
the  comparatively  dim  light  of  nature  and  of  con- 
science, and  feel  his  way  in  the  twilight  as  best  he 
may.  But  it  is  a  claim  which  may  be  said  to  be  in 
possession  of  the  ground.  During  the  last  eighteen 
centuries  it  has  guided  the  civilization  which  is  now 
the  hope  of  the  world,  and  there  is  an  enormous 
presumption  in  its  favour.  But  if  it  be  accepted,  it 
decides  at  one  trenchant  stroke  many  of  the  con- 
troversies by  which  the  world  is  distracted ;  it  sets 
aside  many  a  futile  debate;  and  it  affords  a  firm 
basis  for  the  edifice  of  moral  and  social  life. 

But,  to  turn  for  a  moment  from  this  more  general 
view  of  the  principle  in  question  to  its  relation  to 
our  private  lives,  we  must  acknowledge  at  once  how 
profound  and  how  elevating  would  be  its  influence  if 
it  were  always  present  to  our  minds  in  full  force. 


190  OUR  LORD'S  RETURN 

To  believe  that  everything  we  do,  or  say,  or  think, 
is  under  the  eye  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  will 
hereafter  be  revealed  at  His  tribunal,  and  judged  by 
Him — this  would  seem,  without  controversy,  the 
mightiest  moral  influence  that  can  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  a  man.  It  was  said  of  late,  by  a  distin- 
guished writer  who  was  not  a  Christian,  that  our 
Lord's  character  was  so  perfect  that  a  man  could 
hardly  adopt  a  better  rule  for  his  guidance  than 
that  of  acting  in  such  a  manner  that  Christ,  if  He 
saw  his  actions,  would  approve  them.  But  what  is 
this  to  the  positive  belief  that  Christ  does  see  them, 
and  will  approve  or  condemn  them  in  proportion  as 
they  are  in  accordance  with  His  will  ?  There  was 
always  something  vague  and  uncertain,  both  among 
Jews  and  heathen,  in  the  belief  of  a  future  judgment. 
It  was,  perhaps,  something  too  vast,  too  intangible, 
too  much  beyond  our  standard  and  measure,  to  be 
realized,  and  to  produce  its  due  influence  upon  the 
mind.  But  to  be  judged  by  the  Man  Christ  Jesus, 
whose  words  we  read  in  the  Gospels,  whose  voice 
penetrates  into  our  hearts,  Who  is  portrayed  so 
vividly  that  we  can  almost  see  and  hear  Him — to 
believe  that  this  same  Jesus  will  so  return  in  like 
manner  as  He  was  seen  to  go  into  heaven — to  be 
brought  into  His  presence,  to  feel  His  eye  and  His 
judgment  upon  us,  and  to  await  His  censure  or  His 
approval — this  is  a  prospect  which  we  can  realize 


TO  JUDGMENT  191 

only  too  keenly,  and  which  is  fitted  to  touch  the 
very  depths  of  our  souls.  Indeed,  the  thought  of 
that  penetrating  judgment  would  be  unsupportable 
unless  it  were  accompanied  by  the  assurance  that 
this  Judge  is  also  our  Saviour,  alike  now  and  here- 
after. We  may  be  assured  that  He  will  display 
towards  us  the  mercy  as  well  as  the  severity  which 
marked  His  words  and  acts  when  He  was  upon 
earth,  and  we  cannot  doubt  the  love  and  tenderness 
of  One  who  laid  down  His  life  for  us. 

The  blessing,  accordingly,  of  this  revelation  is  as 
great  for  the  present  as  for  the  future.     Were  we  left 
alone,  even  with  the  guidance  which  the  Gospels  and 
the  Epistles  afford  us,  to  work  out  our  own  salvation, 
to  train  and  discipline  ourselves  in  harmony  with  the 
Saviour's  holy  will,  we  should  be  appalled  at  the  con- 
sciousness of  our  weakness  and  our  ignorance.    But 
the  Lord,  who  requires  us  to  grow  like  Him,  and  who 
has  established  His  will  as  the  final  standard  of  our 
lives,  is  ever  present  with  us,  to  guide  us  by  His 
Spirit  into  all  truth,  alike  of  thought  and  of  action. 
If  we  trust  Him,  and  strive  continually  to  obey  Him, 
His  final  judgment  will  prove  but  the  last  act  of  the 
gracious  discipline  by  which  He  has  all  our  lives 
been  bringing  us  into  ever-increasing  harmony  with 
Himself.     He  does  not  ask  us,  \\ith  all  our  sins  and 
imperfections,  to  bring  ourselves  into  harmony  with 
Him.     He  asks  us  only  to  submit  ourselves  to  Him 


192         OUE  LOED'S  RETURN  TO  JUDGMENT 

in  trust,  in  prayer,  and  in  faithful  study  of  His  word, 
and  He  Himself  will  bring  us  into  that  harmony. 
Our  whole  thoughts  in  meditating  on  this  subject 
may  be  thus  summed  up  in  the  prayer  of  the  Te 
Deum :  '  Thou  sittest  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  in 
the  glory  of  the  Father.  We  believe  that  Thou  shalt 
come  to  be  our  Judge.  We  therefore  pray  Thee,  help 
Thy  servants,  whom  Thou  hast  redeemed  with  Thy 
precious  blood.' 


(     193    ) 


LECTURE   IX 


THE    GIFT    OF    THE    SPIRIT 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you,  he  that  believeth  on  Me,  the  works 
that  I  do  shall  he  do  also ;  and  greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do, 
because  I  go  unto  My  Father." — John  xiv.  12. 

THE  Ascension  of  our  Lord  must  be  regarded,  for 
its  due  appreciation,  in  reference  to  the  manifesta- 
tions which  had  preceded  it  on  the  one  hand,  and  to 
those  which  followed  it  on  the  other.  It  is  not 
an  event  which  stands  by  itself,  but  it  is  part  of  a 
continuous  manifestation  of  the  Saviour's  life  and 
power.  It  is,  in  the  first  place,  only  the  final  and  more 
solemn  assumption  of  a  condition  of  glory  into  which 
He  had  entered  at  His  rising  from  the  grave.  The 
significance  of  our  Lord's  Resurrection  is  nowhere 
presented  in  the  New  Testament  as  consisting  in  the 
mere  fact  of  His  having  risen  from  the  sepulchre,  like 
those  whom  He  had  Himself  raised  from  the  dead. 
It  is  not  to  that  bare  fact  that  the  Apostles  bear 
testimony,  but  to  the  fact  of  His  having  risen  in 
glory  and  power.  As  has  been  observed  in  a  previous 
Lecture,  they  clo  not  even  proclaim  the  IU-HM-.  <•- 

o 


194  THE   GIFT 

tion  until  they  are  able  to  point  to  the  miraculous 
powers  over  men's  bodies  and  souls  which  had  been 
exerted  through  them,  as   proofs  that  their  Lord 
was  exalted  to  be  a  Prince  and  a  Saviour.    It  is  in 
harmony  with  this,  that  all  accounts  of  our  Saviour's 
appearances  to  the  disciples,  after  the  Kesurrection, 
represent   Him,  not  merely  as  having  been  raised 
from  corruption,   but   as   endued   with   powers  and 
qualities  superior  to  those  He  exercised  before,  and 
essentially  different   from   those    which   other  men 
have  enjoyed.     Everywhere  He  appears,  not  merely 
as  the  risen,  but  as  the  glorified,  Lord.     His  body, 
indeed,  no  less  than  His  soul,  retains  what  we  may 
venture  to  call  its  identity.     It  retains  the  mark  of 
the  wound  in  the  side  and  the  print  of  the  nails ;  it 
is  recognized  instinctively,  by  voice  as  well  as  by 
sight,   except   when   He    purposely   throws   a   veil 
around  Himself.     The  eyes  of  those  whom  He  visits 
may  be  holden  for  a  time,  that   they  should  not 
know  Him,  but  some  sudden  touch  reveals  Him,  and 
then  they  recall  many  indications  that  it  is  the  same 
Lord  with  whom  they  had  lived.     But  He  is  never- 
theless  freed  from  some  of  the  most   conspicuous 
limitations  which  are  attached  to  our  own  bodies,  and 
to  which  He  had  Himself  submitted  during  His  pre- 
vious life.     He  appears  suddenly  in  the  midst  of  His 
disciples,  although  the  doors  are  shut ;  He  vanishes 
as  suddenly  out  of  the  sight  of  the  two  disciples  at 


OF   THE    SPIRIT  l|i." 

Einmaus ;  He  would  seem  to  manifest  His  presence 
whenever  and   wherever  He    would,  and  appears 
superior  to   all  ordinary   bodily   necessities.      His 
Ascension  into  the  heavens,  exhibiting  a  supremacy 
over  the  ordinary  laws  of  matter,  is  but  the  last  and 
most  conspicuous  of  these  numerous  evidences  of 
His  having  entered  by  His  Resurrection,  in  body  as 
well  as  in  spirit,  into  a  new  and  glorified  condition. 
\Vhatever  manifestations,  in  short,  are  recorded  of 
Him,  exhibit  Him  as  having  assumed  an  entirely 
new  state  of  bodily  and  spiritual  existence — an  ex- 
istence one  indeed  with  His  former  state  of  humilia- 
tion, but  completely  freed  from  its  restrictions.     He 
appears  to  transcend  the  limitations  of  the  flesh,  no 
less  than  to  have  burst  the  bonds  of  the  grave  ;  and 
from  the  time  of  His  Resurrection,  while  remaining 
man,  He  possessed  a  life,  and  exerted  a  power,  in- 
finitely above  those  of  our  present  humanity.* 

It  would  seem,  in  fact,  that  we  have  an  exact  and 
vivid  description  of  the  change  which  had  thus 
passed  over  the  body  of  our  Lord  in  St.  Paul's  grand 
description  of  the  resurrection  body  of  Christians. 
The  appearances  of  our  Lord  after  His  Resurrection, 
and  the  fact  of  the  Ascension  itself,  are  visible 
illustrations  of  the  Apostle's  argument,  that  '  all  flesh 
is  not  the  same  flesh,'  but  that,  as  there  is  one  kind 


*  See  Dr.  Milligan  on  The  Resurrection  of  our  Lord,  Lect.  I. 


196  THE   GIFT 

of  flesh  of  men  and  another  flesh  of  beasts,  another 
of  fishes,  and  another  of  birds ;  as  there  are  also 
celestial  bodies  and  bodies  terrestrial,  but  the  glory 
of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial 
is  another  ;  so  also,  is  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
'It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in  incor- 
ruption;  it  is  sown  in  dishonour,  it  is  raised  in 
glory ;  it  is  sown  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power ; 
it  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is  raised  a  spiritual 
body.  There  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a 
spiritual  body.  And  so  it  is  written,  the  first  man 
Adam  was  made  a  living  soul ;  the  last  Adam 
was  made  a  quickening  spirit.'  In  those  words  the 
Apostle  presents  our  Lord,  in  His  glorified  state,  as 
being  as  distinctly  a  type  of  the  spiritual  body, 
animated  by  the  quickening  spirit,  as  Adam  was  of 
the  earthly  body,  animated  by  the  living  soul.  A 
spiritual  influence,  infinitely  superior  to  that  which 
is  exhibited  in  our  present  earthly  frame,  will  here- 
after animate  those  who  rise  in  Christ,  and  will 
transform  them ;  '  and  as  we  have  borne  the  image 
of  the  earthy,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image  of  the 
heavenly.'  That  image  was  actually  seen  in  our 
Lord,  in  the  complete  transformation  which  His 
body  underwent,  though  remaining  one  with  that 
body  which  suffered  and  was  buried.  He  rose  and 
ascended,  as  our  Article  states,  quoting  His  own 
words, '  with  flesh,  bones,  and  all  things  appertaining 


OF    THE   SPIRIT  197 

to  the  perfection  of  man's  nature '— '  Handle  Me  and 
see,'  He  said,  '  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones, 
as  ye  see  Me  have  ' — but  all  these  elements  of  man's 
nature  perfected,  glorified,  placed  in  new  relations, 
and  endued  with  a  new  life.  There  is  thus  no 
essentially  greater  wonder  in  the  Ascension  than  in 
our  Lord's  various  appearances  before  it.  It  was 
His  last  solemn  farewell  to  His  disciples;  it  marked 
the  moment  when  He  assumed  the  full  exercise  of 
that  power  which  He  had  won  by  death,  and  it  was 
thus  distinguished  by  circumstances  equally  striking 
in  themselves  and  symbolical  of  His  exaltation.  But 
it  is  an  event  substantially  one  in  character  with 
those  which  had  preceded  it  since  the  Eesurrection  ; 
it  is  indissolubly  united  with  them,  and  rests  on  tin- 
same  evidence. 

But  this  manifestation  of  the  Saviour's  glory  in 
respect  to  His  bodily  nature  is  accompanied  by  a 
similar  assumption  of  power  in  the  moral  and 
spiritual  sphere.  He  himself,  indeed,  needed  no 
glorification  in  this  respect.  His  previous  humilia- 
tion had  affected  His  bodily  state  only,  and  His 
spiritual  and  moral  glory  was  as  great  before  His 
Eesurrection  as  after  it.  Even  while  the  Word  was 
made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us  in  the  ordinary  con- 
ditions of  human  flesh  and  blood,  those  who  had 
pure  hearts  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  tin- 
only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and  truth. 


198  THE   GIFT 

But  that  moral  and  spiritual  power  which  He  did 
not  need  for  Himself  He  did  need  for  others.  It  is 
clearly  revealed  in  the  Gospels,  alike  by  the  evi- 
dence of  experience  and  by  express  statements,  that 
His  power  to  influence  the  hearts  of  men,  and  to 
quicken  them  into  true  moral  life  by  spiritual  in- 
fluences, was  exercised  under  limitations  and  restric- 
tions during  the  period  of  His  ministry  and  before  His 
death  and  resurrection.  St.  John  expressly  tells  us, 
in  reference  to  one  of  His  great  promises,  '  This  spake 
He  of  the  Spirit,  which  they  that  believe  on  Him 
should  receive  ;  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given, 
because  that  Jesus  was  not  yet  glorified.'  The  same 
truth  is  repeatedly  urged  by  our  Lord  Himself  in  His 
last  discourses  to  His  disciples.  'It  is  expedient 
for  you,'  He  says,  '  that  I  go  away :  for  if  I  go  not 
away  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you;  but  if 
I  depart,  I  will  send  Him  unto  you.'  This  truth,  it 
may  be  observed,  affords  perhaps  the  most  striking  of 
all  illustrations  of  the  immense  efficacy  and  supreme 
necessity  of  the  atoning  work  of  our  Lord  in  His 
death  on  the  Cross.  It  was  indispensable  for  the 
manifestation  of  God's  justice  that  the  natural 
consequences  of  man's  sin  should  be  allowed  to 
work  themselves  out,  as  they  did  by  the  rejection 
and  crucifixion  of  our  Lord,  and  that  He  should 
take  upon  Himself  those  consequences,  before 
God  could  interpose,  as  He  had  from  the  first 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  199 

purposed,  to  deliver  mankind  by  the  supernatural 
operation  of  His  Spirit  from  the  ruin  which  they 
had  brought  upon  themselves  by  their  revolt  from 
Him.  It  was  necessary  that  Christ  should  be  '  set 
forth  to  be  a  propitiation  through  faith  in  His  blood, 
to  declare  the  righteousness  of  God  for  the  remission 
of  sins  that  are  past,  through  the  forbearance  of  God  ; 
to  declare,'  the  Apostle  insists,  'at  this  time  His 
righteousness ;  that  He  might  be  just,  and  the  justifier 
of  him  that  believeth  in  Jesus.'  When  this  had  been 
done,  and  when  our  Lord  could  pass  in  His  glorified 
humanity  into  the  presence  of  the  Father,  there  plead- 
ing His  sufferings,  of  which  His  body  still  bore  the 
marks,  as  a  sufficient  penalty  and  atonement  for 
human  evil,  then  was  it  possible  for  God,  through 
Him,  to  set  free  that  gracious  influence  of  His  Spirit 
from  which  the  sins  of  men  had  hitherto  debarred 
them.  Christ,  by  His  perfect  obedience  and  Atone- 
ment, had  won  that  gift ;  and  the  Spirit  was  henre- 
forth,  if  we  may  so  speak,  placed  in  His  hands  as  the 
reward  of  His  work,  to  be  by  Him  bestowed  upon  all 
who  submitted  themselves  to  Him  in  faith.  In  this 
respect  the  Saviour  was  glorified  at  the  Ascension 
in  His  moral  and  spiritual  no  less  than  in  His  bodily 
nature.  He  possesses  a  power  which  he  coull  not 
« xert  before  ;  He  is  able  to  give  the  Comforter  to 
His  disci  pies,  and  that  Spirit  henceforth  pro. 
from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  to  exercise  over  tlie 


200  THE    GIFT 

spirits  and  souls,  and  ultimately  over  the  bodies, 
of  Christians  His  transforming  and  transfiguring 
influences. 

These  considerations,  it  will  be  found,  bring  light 
and  unity  into  the  various  sayings  of  our  Lord  which 
are  recorded  between  His  Eesurrection  and  Ascen- 
sion. The  burden  of  His  repeated  sayings  to  His 
disciples  is  that  He  bestows  on  them  henceforth 
new  and  irresistible  spiritual  powers.  One  of  His  first 
utterances,  when  He  came  and  stood  in  the  midst  of 
them  while  they  were  assembled  in  secret  for  fear  of 
the  Jews,  was,  '  Peace  be  unto  you.  As  My  Father 
hath  sent  Me,  even  so  send  I  you.  And  when  He 
had  said  this  He  breathed  on  them,  and  said  unto 
them,  Keceive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost.'  He  could  bestow 
that  gift  then  as  He  could  not  bestow  it  before. 
He  bids  them  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in 
the  Name  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  bringing  them  therefore  under  the  life- 
giving  influences  of  those  three  sacred  Persons, 
setting  free,  if  the  expression  may  be  permitted, 
the  whole  power  of  the  Godhead  to  work  upon 
them.  St.  Luke  accordingly,  in  the  Acts,  repre- 
sents His  instructions  to  the  Apostles  during  the 
interval  between  His  Eesurrection  and  Ascension  as 
mainly  having  reference  to  this  promise.  'Being 
assembled  together  with  them,  He  commanded  them 
that  they  should  not  depart  from  Jerusalem,  but 


OF   THE    SPIRIT  201 

wait  for  the  promise  of  the  Father,  which,  saith  He, 
ye  have  heard  of  Me.'  Every  message,  every  act, 
leads  up  to  this  great  promise,  as  that  in  which  the 
whole  work  of  the  Saviour  was  to  be  fulfilled.  The 
Apostles,  in  a  word,  are  not  commissioned  to  go 
forth  into  the  world  as  teachers  only,  but  as  men 
endued  with  new  powers  themselves  and  bringing 
new  powers  to  others.  That  which  they  had  seen  of 
the  glorification  of  our  Lord's  body  was  to  be  an 
example  and  a  pledge  to  them  of  the  work  which 
was  to  be  wrought  in  men's  souls.  A  new  creative 
influence  was  to  be  set  at  work  by  means  of  it,  and 
the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  all  who  submitted  to 
the  Saviour  was  to  be  regenerated.  When,  accord- 
ingly, we  are  told  that  '  with  great  power  gave  the 
Apostles  witness  of  the  resurrection  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,'  it  is  added,  '  and  great  grace  was  upon  them 
all.'  The  power  did  not  lie  in  the  mere  force  of 
their  testimony  to  the  fact  of  our  Lord  having 
risen  from  the  grave,  but  in  their  testimony  to  Him 
as  a  glorified  and  ascended  Lord,  and  in  the  great 
grace  which  He  bestowed  on  all  who  submitted  to 
Him. 

This  is  an  aspect  of  the  revelation  of  the  New 
Testament  which  is  peculiarly  liable  to  be  obscured 
amidst  the  controversies  of  the  present  time,  and 
which  it  is  essential  for  us  above  all  things  to  !«•<•[• 
in  view  if  we  would  meet  the  difficulties  which  those 


202  THE   GIFT 

controversies  present  to  us.  The  main  effort  of  all 
schools  of  thought  which  have  struggled  against  the 
full  supernatural  revelation  of  the  Gospel  hus  been 
to  concentrate  attention  on  the  moral  teaching  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  to  separate  it  from  the 
miraculous  narratives  with  which  it  is  accompanied. 
But  all  such  attempts  fail  to  grupple  with  that 
which,  if  the  facts  be  fully  realized,  may  well 
appear  the  greatest  miracle  of  all.  That  fact  is 
the  event  to  which  this  season  bears  witness — the 
sudden  creation  of  a  new  spiritual  life,  of  new 
moral  energies  and  powers,  after  the  descent  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  By  no  con- 
ceivable process  of  criticism  can  the  fact  of  such  a 
sudden  creation  be  explained  away.  So  far  as  the 
life  of  believers  is  concerned,  it  is  impossible  not  to 
feel  that  we  enter  into  a  new  world  as  we  pass  from 
the  Gospels  to  the  Ac's  of  the  Apostles  and  the 
Epistles.  In  the  history  of  the  Gospels  even  the  dis- 
ciples of  our  Lord  are  marked  to  the  last  by  a  weak- 
ness, a  narrowness,  and  even  a  worldlines*,  which  is  in 
amazing  contrast  with  the  infinite  spiritual  grace  of 
our  Lord  Himself.  At  the  last  moment  before  His 
Ascension  they  recur  to  these  mere  worldly  expecta- 
tions, saying,  '  Lord,  wilt  Thou  fit  this  time  restore 
again  the  kingdom  to  Israel?'  Equally  striking  is 
the  absence  in  the  Gospels  of  any  evidence  that  our 
Lord's  perfect  moral  and  spiritual  teaching  produced 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  2<>:'. 

the  effect  of  regenerating, to  any  appreciable  extent, 
the  lives  of  more  than  a  few,  and  a  very  few,  devoted 
followers.  He  gathers  no  church  about  Him,  and 
the  moment  He  dies  His  whole  work  seems  for  the 
moment  to  be  at  an  end.  Nor  is  the  case  different 
after  His  Resurrection,  even  the  spiritual  insight  of 
the  Apostles,  as  has  just  been  mentioned,  being  still 
imperfect.  But  after  the  Ascension,  and  the  gift  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  which  followed  it,  the  Apostles  are 
enabled  instantly  to  gather  around  them  some 
thousands  of  followers,  whose  Christian  graces  have 
been  the  ideal  of  the  whole  Church  ever  since. 
Picture  to  yourselves,  on  the  one  hand,  that 
hardened  society  of  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  and  that 
fickle  and  passionate  mob,  by  whom  our  Lord,  not- 
withstanding all  the  grace  and  power  of  His  teach- 
ing, was  condemned  to  death ;  and,  on  the  other, 
that  body  of  about  three  thousand  souls  who  were 
added  to  the  Church  the  very  day  of  the  descent 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  who  '  continued  steadfastly 
in  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  fellowship,'  who  'wnv 
of  one  he;irt  and  of  one  soul,'  and  who  were  animated 
by  the  same  gracious  influences  of  love,  joy,  and 
peace. 

Do  not  these  wonderful  manifestations  of  spiritual 
grace  exactly  correspond  to  our  Lord's  promise  in  tin- 
text — 'He  that  believeth  on  Me,  tin-  \v..rks  that  I  do 
shall  he  do  also;  and  greater  \v..rk.s  than  these  .-hall 


204  THE   GIFT 

he  do,  because  I  go  unto  My  Father '  ?  Were  they 
not  an  exact  fulfilment  of  the  assurance,  '  It  is  ex- 
pedient for  you  that  I  go  away  :  for  if  I  go  not  away 
the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  depart 
I  will  send  Him  unto  you.  And  when  He  is  come, 
He  will  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of  righteous- 
ness, and  of  judgment.'  Then  it  was  that  those  who 
listened  to  St.  Peter  '  were  pricked  in  their  heart, 
and  said  unto  Peter  and  to  the  rest  of  the  Apostles, 
"  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do  ?  "  '  and  Peter 
was  able  to  reply, '  Kepent,  and  be  baptized  every  one 
of  you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission 
of  sins,  and  ye  shall  receive  the  gift  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.'  Unquestionably  the  moral  and  spiritual 
power  exerted  by  the  Apostles  after  the  descent  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  produced  greater  works — far  more 
conspicuous  and  more  enduring  results — than  all  the 
teaching  of  our  Lord  during  His  lifetime,  notwith- 
standing the  miraculous  manifestations  by  which  it 
was  attested.  This  is,  after  all,  the  decisive  fact  of 
Christian  experience,  and  perhaps  the  chief  practical 
evidence  of  our  Faith.  The  undoubted  facts  of 
Christian  history  bear  irresistible  testimony  to  the 
truth  that,  after  our  Lord's  death  and  resurrection,  a 
new  spiritual  life  was  at  work  in  the  world,  trans- 
figuring the  lives  of  those  who  faithfully  submitted 
to  it,  just  as  our  Lord's  body  was  transformed  and 
glorified.  Henceforth,  it  was  evident,  Christians 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  205 

were  not  living  merely  by  their  own  powers  as  they 
had  lived  before,  subject  only  to  the  intellectual 
and  moral  influences  of  Christian  teaching.  But 
they  were  in  the  hands  of  a  life-giving  Spirit,  from 
whom  they  drew  continual  supplies  of  new  spiritual 
energy. 

With  the  evidence  of  the  Epistles  in  our  hands, 
bearing  witness  to  the  intense  spiritual  and  moral 
beauty  of  Christian  life  as  represented  in  the  teach- 
ing and  the  practice  of  the  Apostles,  it  is  strange 
men  should  fail  to  acknowledge  the  presence  of  this 
new  and  life-giving  influence.  We  seem  to  behold 
the  Divine  Spirit  breathing  over  the  moral  chaos 

to  hear  the  Divine  command, '  Let  there  be  light !' 

and  to  see  that  it  was  fulfilled— '  and  there  w;i« 
light.'  It  is,  indeed,  but  too  natural  and  easy  to 
point  to  facts  which  appear  to  conflict  with  this 
gracious  truth,  and  which  render  it  sometimes  diffi- 
cult of  belief.  Where  are  the  signs,  men  may 
ask,  of  the  continued  existence  and  operation  of 
this  transforming  influence  in  the  subsequent  history 
of  the  Church  and  in  our  own  day?  If  such  a 
spiritual  power  as  that  we  have  been  considering 
-a  power  like  that  which  transfigured  our  Lor.l'< 
bodily  nature,  and  which  transformed  the  livs  od 
the  Apostles  and  early  Christians-has  been  at  wo 
in  the  Church  ever  since,  and  is  at  work  witi 
it  now,  how  are  we  to  account  for  the  frequent 


206  THE    GIFT 

and  grievous  decay  of  Christian  virtue,  for  the 
scandals  which  in  age  after  age  have  disgraced 
Christendom  ?  How  is  it  that  such  powers  are  not 
so  conspicuous  among  us  at  this  moment  as  to 
silence  all  objection,  and  to  compel  men  to  confess 
that  the  Spirit  of  God  is  with  us  of  a  truth  ? 

As  I  will  observe  in  a  moment,  it  is  too  easy  to 
account  for  this  sad  contrast,  for  this  failure  to 
realize  the  Christian  ideal.  But  we  may  boldly 
say,  in  the  first  place,  that,  grievous  as  are  these 
defects  in  our  practice,  grievous  as  they  ever  have 
been  in  the  history  of  the  Church,  history  never- 
theless does,  on  the  whole,  bear  the  most  con- 
spicuous witness  to  the  ever-present  influence  of 
this  Spirit  of  Grace.  It  can  certainly  be  said,  with- 
out fear  of  contradiction,  that  in  every  age  since  the 
first  preaching  of  the  Gospel  to  the  present  time,  a 
succession  of  faints  has  been  maintained,  not  un- 
worthy to  be  enrolled  with  those  of  the  primitive 
Churcli.  They  have  been  fewer  or  more  obscure  at 
one  time  than  another,  but  no  one  acquainted  with 
the  course  of  ecclesiastical  history  will  deny  their 
continuous  existence.  The  life  of  this  brotherhood  of 
saints  has  flowed  on  in  a  perennial  stream,  pure  and 
gracious  in  itself,  and  bringing  vitality  to  the  arid 
wastes  of  natural  society,  or  corrupt  Christianity, 
which  lay  around  its  course.  Connected  with  this, 
and  as  a  consequence  of  it,  is  another  fact  equally 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  207 

conspicuous  throughout  the  Christian  ages — that  of 
a  power  of  constant  revival  and  reformation  within 
the  Christian  Church.  This,  it  must  be  owned,  on 
candid  consideration,  is  a  unique  phenomenon  in 
human  experience.  In  all  history,  except  that  in 
\\hich  the  Church  has  been  the  prominent  influ- 
ence, the  law  of  development  has  been  that  which 
prevails  in  the  natural  world,  of  growth  up  to 
a  certain  point,  followed  by  decay.  One  nation 
after  another  has  come  on  the  stage  of  the  world's 
history,  and  each  has  brought  some  new  contribution 
to  its  life,  some  new  energy,  moral  or  intellectual. 
Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome,  for  instance,  have  thus 
succeeded  one  another,  and  each  has  established  for 
a  time  an  imposing  civilization.  But  in  each  case 
the  civilization  became  corrupt,  and  when  that 
corruption  had  once  set  in,  there  was  no  power  of 
resistance  or  renovation.  But  the  history  of  Chris- 
tendom—a history  which  is  now  that  of  eighteen 
centuries — is  that  of  a  succession  of  reformations  of 
moral  and  intellectual  life.  There  is  no  race, 
neither  Greek,  nor  Roman,  nor  Celtic,  nor  German, 
which  has  not  from  time  to  time  felt  this  reforming 
and  regenerating  power,  and  which  has  not  thus 
been  enabled  to  cast  off  its  corruptions  and  enter 
on  a  new  career.  It  was  by  the  influence  of  th«- 
Church,  as  no  impartial  historian  will  question,  that 
out  of  the  corrupted  elements  of  the  Greek  ami 


208  THE    GIFT 

Roman  world,  and  the  fierce  and  untamed  energies 
of  the  Teutonic  races,  the  grand  and  enduring 
fabric  of  our  present  civilization  was  built  up. 
The  moral  and  spiritual  energies  of  Christian 
missionaries  exerted  a  creative  force  and  a  power 
of  control  which  were  lacking  alike  to  Greek  arts 
and  to  Eoman  arms,  and  they  thus  sowed  the  seeds 
of  an  ever-growing  Christendom.  All  other  civili- 
zations and  faiths  have  fallen  into  decay,  while 
this  alone  exhibits  the  elements  of  an  enduring 
vitality. 

In  proportion,  indeed,  as  the  simple  truths  of  the 
Gospel  have  been  obscured  by  human  ignorance,  or 
misused  by  human  ambition  for  unworthy  ends,  have 
these  gracious  influences  of  God's  Spirit  been  lost. 
But  the  Church  has  never  long  been  without  her 
prophets,  to  revive  the  truth  and  to  set  free  anew  the 
springs  of  Christian  life.  The  work  of  the  great  saints 
of  the  early  Church  and  of  the  Middle  Ages  was  re- 
vived by  the  great  leaders  of  the  Reformation ;  and 
the  Evangelical  succession,  reinvigorated  through 
the  spiritual  insight  of  the  Reformers,  has  never 
since  been  interrupted.  The  Church,  in  short,  has 
succeeded  in  taking  up  into  itself  members  of  all 
nations  in  all  ages,  and  in  moulding  them  into 
members  of  her  own  body,  constituent  parts  of  the 
same  great  Christian  creation.  It  is  this  feeling — 
often  unconscious,  but  this  alone — which  gives  to 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  1_>O.| 

modern  life  its  hopefulness  and  energy.  The  history 
of  the  Church  in  the  past  forbids  us  to  despair  <>t 
the  moral  and  spiritual  renovation  of  any  people 
whatever;  and  thus  we  work  and  struggle,  alike 
at  home  and  abroad,  in  the  hope  of  a  continu<>n< 
progress. 

But,  while  this  is  true,  and  is  a  sufficient  answer  to 
the  objections  I  have  mentioned,  we  must  none  the 
less  admit  a  grievous  falling  short  in  our  realization 
of  those  spiritual  powers  we  have  been  considering ; 
and  the  reason  must  be  familiar  to  us  all.  Our 
Lord  proceeds  after  the  text  to  say,  'And  whatso- 
ever ye  shall  ask  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do,  thnl 
the  Father  may  be  gloritied  in  the  Son.  It  y 
shall  ask  anything  in  My  name,  I  will  do  it.'  It 
need  not  be  said  that  this  asking  in  Christ's  name 
implies  no  ordinary  or  cursory  petition;  it  involve 
earnest,  devout,  and  constant  prayer,  in  that  spirit 
of  faith,  and  that  striving  and  wrestling  for  spiri- 
tual graces,  which  our  Lord  Himself  displayed  in 
the  days  of  His  flesh,  and  which  His  Apo>tl'- 
urge  on  us  as  indispensable  for  obtaining  an  an>\\»-r 
to  prayer.  '  Let  a  man  ask  in  faith,'  says  St  James, 
'nothing  wavering.  For  he  that  wavereth  is  like 
a  wave  of  the  sea,  driven  with  the  wind  and  tos-ed. 
For  let  not  that  man  think  that  he  shall  rec« -i\- 
anything  of  the  Lord;'  and  he  tells  us  that  it 
is  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  riirhti-nis  man 

p 


210  THE   GIFT 

which  availeth  much.     If,  then,  any  of  us  ask,  or  if 
we  are  asked,  Where  is  the  moral  and  spiritual  grace 
which  should   transform   our  lives,  as  they  trans- 
formed those  of  the  first  Christians?  let  the  ques- 
tioner ask  himself  whether  he  is  conscious  of  that 
supreme  devotion  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  that 
craving,  above  all  things,  for  righteousness,  which 
impels  him  to  the   incessant   and   earnest    prayer 
in  answer  to  which  alone  this   grace  is  promised. 
One    essential    character  of  the   operation  of  the 
Spirit    of    God    is    that    His    grace    never    works 
mechanically.      He    speaks    indeed    to   the   heart. 
He  touches  the  springs  of  the  conscience,  and  is  thus 
ever  arousing  in  each  of  us  a  craving  for  grace  and 
truth ;  but  His  further  influences  are  dependent  on 
the  degree  in  which  we  yield  to  those  gentle  invita- 
tions.    But  the  history  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
confirmed  as  it  is  in  all  ages  by  Christian  experience, 
may  give  us  a  firm  assurance   that  this  spiritual 
power,  or  rather  that  Holy  Spirit  and  that  gracious 
Lord,  are  here,  and  ever  at  our  side  ;  that  we  owe  it 
to  Their  grace  alone  that  we  are  not  worse  than  we 
are,  and  that,  in  proportion  as  we  yield  to  Them, 
in   proportion   as   we   are    able    by   Their  aid   to 
set  our  affections  on  things  above,  and  to  appeal  to 
Them  in  faith  and  prayer,  They  will  give  us  larger 
measure  of  this  grace,  and  will  help  us  to  transform 
our  lives.     The  Holy  Spirit  is  still  given,  as  in  the 


OF   THE   SPIRIT  211 

•  lays  of  the  early  Church,  to  those  who  truly  seek 
Him.  May  God  give  us  grace  thus  to  strive  after 
the  likeness  of  Christ,  and  thus  to  realize  it,  that 
'  like  as  we  do  believe  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to 
have  ascended  into  the  heavens,  so  we  may  also  in 
heart  and  mind  thither  ascend,  and  with  Him  con- 
tin  nally  dwell.' 


THE  END. 


LOW*:    PRINTED  BY   WILLIAM  CUWTM  AND  «O»8,   L.MITID.  SIAMFOW,  ST«" 

ASI>  '.HAKIM;  CBOSS. 


ONAi  U8RARY  FAOUTY 


A     000  685  002    8 


